DeepSeek Signals 'Significant' API Price Increase; Resumes $8B Round at $74B Valuation

DeepSeek posted a notice warning of a 'significant' upcoming increase to API pricing across all services, reversing the aggressive price-cutting strategy that built its reputation. V4-Flash currently costs $0.14/$0.28 per million tokens — by far the cheapest of well-known models — and the hike responds to unprecedented global demand that appears to be straining capacity.

The move was widely read as the first genuine counter to the AI cost-collapse trend. Community reaction was intense: r/DeepSeek's 'Absolutely crazy price 😭 Golden age of AI' hit 539 upvotes, while a contrarian thread argued 'DeepSeek's only major advantage was its API pricing, now it's time to switch to Xiaomi Mimo.' Dax from Opencode's take on the announcement drew 1,051 upvotes. The framing that emerged: 'the cheap AI era ending,' with a capacity war replacing the price war.

Separately, DeepSeek resumed a second funding round seeking about $8 billion at a ~$74 billion valuation, with Monolith Management reportedly in talks. The company also took a 2.31% stake in robot maker Unitree, signaling ambitions beyond pure model provision into embodied AI.

Competitively, the timing is striking — DeepSeek is raising prices the same week Alibaba undercuts Opus 5 on price and OpenAI makes free ChatGPT unlimited. It suggests DeepSeek is betting its performance-per-dollar lead is strong enough to sustain a hike, or that it simply cannot afford to serve demand at current prices. Either way, it complicates the narrative that Chinese labs will drive prices to zero. Watch whether users defect to cheaper alternatives like Xiaomi's Mimo or accept the increase.