DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup that triggered a global price war in artificial intelligence services, has notified users of imminent significant API price increases across all its services, signaling a major shift in the company’s ultra-low pricing strategy.
The company’s current V4-Flash rates stand at just $0.14 per million input tokens and $0.28 per million output tokens, prices that have pressured competitors worldwide. DeepSeek warned that these rates will rise substantially, though it did not provide a specific timeline or new pricing tiers. The move reverses the aggressive discounting that helped DeepSeek capture market share and forced rivals to slash their own API costs.
Alongside the pricing shift, DeepSeek has reopened a funding round seeking nearly $8 billion at a valuation approaching $74 billion, or approximately 500 billion yuan, according to Bloomberg and Reuters reports. The round, which had previously been paused, now includes Monolith Management among the investors in talks, people familiar with the matter said.
The valuation represents a dramatic increase from the $10 billion valuation DeepSeek carried when it began raising funds in April 2026. Founder Liang Wenfeng is expected to personally invest approximately 20 billion yuan, or $2.9 billion, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the total round.
DeepSeek also took a 2.31 percent stake, worth approximately $20.8 million, in robotics firm Unitree, expanding its footprint beyond language models into the physical AI space. The company’s constrained capacity for its Pro service, due to limited access to high-end computing power, appears to have contributed to the decision to raise prices and secure additional capital.
The pricing reversal has immediate implications for the broader AI industry. DeepSeek’s rock-bottom rates had squeezed margins at Chinese competitors including MiniMax and Zhipu AI, whose stock prices fell sharply after DeepSeek V4 launched in April. A meaningful price increase could stabilize the market but also test customer loyalty among developers who adopted DeepSeek’s API primarily on cost.
The $74 billion valuation would make DeepSeek one of the most valuable private AI companies globally. The startup, which emerged from quant trading firm High-Flyer Capital, has been at the center of the AI race between the US and China, with its models rivaling Western counterparts at a fraction of the cost. The company is reportedly planning a potential mainland initial public offering as part of its next growth phase.
Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, AI Briefing
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