DeepSeek on Friday released preview builds of its next-generation language model, V4, offering both a pro edition and a lower-cost flash edition intended to broaden access. The company said the pro build outperforms competing open-source models on world-knowledge benchmarks and is second only to Google’s closed-source Gemini-Pro-3.1 on those same measures.
The preview stage is being used to collect real-world feedback rather than presenting a finished product. DeepSeek did not provide a schedule for when V4 will be finalized.
Ownership of DeepSeek resides with High-Flyer Capital Management. The company is reported to be pursuing a fundraising round that would value it at more than $20 billion, and discussions have been described between DeepSeek and major Chinese technology groups, including Alibaba and Tencent, about potential stakes.
DeepSeek’s rise has been accompanied by controversy. The startup has been accused multiple times by U.S. rivals and Washington of improper and illegal behaviour. Those allegations form part of a broader set of tensions between the United States and China over AI intellectual property. On the eve of planned talks between the two countries' leaders next month, the White House publicly accused China of stealing intellectual property from U.S. AI laboratories on an industrial scale. The Chinese Embassy in Washington responded, characterizing the accusations as baseless and saying Beijing places importance on the protection of intellectual property rights.
The previews of V4 include two distinct builds: the pro edition, which the company says achieves top-tier performance among open-source rivals on world-knowledge benchmarks, and a flash edition offered at lower cost. DeepSeek said the preview releases will let it integrate feedback gathered from real-world use into subsequent iterations.
Separately, investment tools and research services have highlighted the trading ticker 0700 in relation to the sector. One such service, ProPicks AI, is described as evaluating 0700 along with many other companies each month using more than 100 financial metrics and employing AI-generated stock ideas that screen for fundamentals, momentum, and valuation. The service claims past notable winners but does not alter the fact that DeepSeek’s fundraising and product milestones remain uncertain.
While DeepSeek advances its model roadmap publicly with preview releases and positions V4 as highly competitive among open-source offerings, the company’s financing plans and the geopolitical environment provide important context for investors and industry watchers. The company has not fixed a timetable for V4’s final release, and broader allegations involving intellectual property and cross-border tensions persist.