China’s AI Chip Makers Form United Front to Support DeepSeek’s Breakthrough Model

Chinese AI chip makers have united to offer near-immediate, full-stack support for DeepSeek’s latest large language model, marking a historic step for China’s independent AI ecosystem. As soon as DeepSeek released its experimental V3.2-Exp model at the end of September 2025, companies including Huawei, Cambricon, Hygon, and Moore Threads announced “zero-day” compatibility, demonstrating the industry’s ability to self-organize and integrate advanced models across domestic hardware platforms. This unity is widely seen as a breakthrough in China’s campaign to lessen reliance on U.S. technology and challenge Nvidia’s dominance in AI chips.tomshardware+3

Technical and Strategic Innovations

DeepSeek’s latest model introduces advanced features such as DeepSeek Sparse Attention (DSA), dramatically improving the efficiency of handling long documents and conversations while cutting operational costs by over 50% versus its predecessor. Technical integration was enabled by DeepSeek open-sourcing core GPU operators in both CUDA and TileLang formats—a move that ensures readiness for non-Nvidia, China-native chips such as Huawei’s Ascend series. TileLang, a new language from Peking University, simplifies complex operator code, making rapid model adaptation feasible for Chinese hardware teams.reuters+2

Geopolitical Context

This coordinated effort comes as China faces intensifying U.S. tech export restrictions. Chinese regulators have reportedly instructed tech firms to cancel new Nvidia GPU orders, sparking a broader move toward domestic semiconductors and cloud providers. Analysts describe DeepSeek’s unifying effect across chip makers and cloud providers as a “pivotal moment,” highlighting that “good enough” homegrown chips can now support cutting-edge models—a milestone that could split the global AI compute landscape into U.S.-led and China-led domains.reuters+4

Industry and Economic Implications

The rapid shift toward domestic hardware, including successful deployments by cloud services such as SiliconFlow on Huawei and Moore Threads GPUs, demonstrates renewed confidence in China’s chip industry. DeepSeek’s approach of cost-effective, high-performing open models—reportedly at a fraction of the cost of U.S. equivalents—has inspired optimism that the country can now scale advanced AI without exclusive reliance on foreign chips. The momentum appears set to grow as Chinese LLMs are increasingly trained and deployed on local silicon.chinadailyhk+1

Outlook

With DeepSeek acting as a catalyst, China’s AI and chip sectors are entering an era of accelerated self-reliance and innovation. The alignment between software and hardware, achieved with unprecedented speed and coordination, signals rising competitiveness with Western tech giants and the likely emergence of two parallel global AI ecosystems.merics+2