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Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has hinted that China will soon have homegrown “next generation” chips to support its AI models, while announcing an update to one of its large language models. 

In a comment under a post on its official WeChat account, DeepSeek said the “UE8M0 FP8” precision format of its newly released model V3.1 is tailored for the next-generation domestically built chips that will be launched soon.

FP8, or 8-bit floating point, is a data processing format that can boost the computational efficiency for training and inference of large deep learning models.

DeepSeek’s mention of China’s coming next-generation chips may signal plans to work more closely with China’s emerging AI chip ecosystem in the face of Washington’s advanced semiconductor export restrictions and Beijing’s push for chip self-sufficiency.

The comments come about two weeks after Beijing reportedly urged Chinese AI developers to use domestic alternatives to Nvidia’s graphics processing units used in AI training. While analysts say China’s domestic AI chipmakers lag behind Nvidia in technological advancement and scale, players like Huawei have been making progress.

In its Thursday post, DeepSeek did not disclose the chips it used to train the V3.1, or what local chips the UE8M0 FP8 might be compatible with.

DeepSeek shook up the tech world earlier this year after it released its R1 reasoning model, which demonstrated capabilities comparable to those of Western competitors like OpenAI, despite U.S. export controls restricting it from using Nvidia’s most advanced AI training chips.

Prior to that, in December, the company released its V3 model, which it said had been trained on about 2,000 of Nvidia’s less advanced chips.

Following DeepSeek’s model breakthroughs, the U.S. further tightened export restrictions in April, effectively banning Nvidia’s H20 chips, which had been specially designed to meet prior export restrictions on China. 

Last month, officials from the Trump administration said they planned to allow Nvidia to resume shipping the chips to China. However, the H20s are now being met with scrutiny in China, with regulators reportedly mandating companies against buying the chips until a national security review is completed.

Chip analysts have told CNBC that companies like Huawei that have been seeking to build an alternative AI chip ecosystem in China could benefit from a lack of Nvidia’s H20s in the market. 

DeepSeek said Thursday that its V3.1 came with “major changes,” including faster response times, and a hybrid reasoning architecture that allows the model to support both reasoning and non-reasoning modes. Reasoning models can execute more complicated tasks through a step-by-step logical thought process.

Starting Sept. 6, the company will also adjust the pricing for using the model’s API, which allows developers of other apps and web products to integrate DeepSeek on their platforms. 

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Motive, an Alphabet-backed fleet management software company, files for IPO

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Motive, an Alphabet-backed fleet management software company, files for IPO

Direxion signage at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. The holiday-shortened week started with gains in stocks amid a broad advance that saw a continuation of the bullish momentum on Wall Street.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Motive, a company with software for managing corporate trucks and drivers, on Tuesday filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MTVE.”

The paperwork puts Motive among a fast-growing group of tech companies looking to go public in 2026. Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX have all reportedly considered making their shares widely available for trading next year.

Motive is smaller, reporting a $62.7 million net loss on $115.8 million in revenue in the third quarter. The loss widened from $41.3 million in the same quarter of 2024, while revenue grew about 23% year over year. The company had almost 100,000 clients at the end of September.

Ryan Johns, Obaid Khan and Shoaib Makani started Motive in 2013, originally under the name Keep Truckin. Makani, the CEO, is Khan’s brother-in-law.

Investors include Alphabet’s GV, Base10 Partners, Greenoaks, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Scale Venture Partners.

Motive’s AI Dashcam device for detecting unsafe driving “has prevented 170,000 collisions and saved 1,500 lives on our roads,” Makani wrote in a letter to investors. Most revenue comes from subscriptions, although Motive does sell replacement hardware and professional services.

The San Francisco company changed its name to Motive in 2022, and as of Sept. 30, it employed 4,508 people. Motive employs 400 full-time data annotators who apply labels that are meant to enhance artificial intelligence models.

Motive has ongoing patent-infringement litigation with competitor Samsara, which went public in 2021 and today has a $22 billion market capitalization.

WATCH: AI IPO boom next year? The changing 2026 IPO landscape

AI IPO boom next year? The changing 2026 IPO landscape

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Why an analyst sees Meta shares getting back to record highs – plus, another tariff reprieve

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Why an analyst sees Meta shares getting back to record highs – plus, another tariff reprieve

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U.S. pushes additional tariffs on Chinese chips to June 2027

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U.S. pushes additional tariffs on Chinese chips to June 2027

A silicon wafer with chips etched into is seen as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris tours a site where Applied Materials plans to build a research facility, in Sunnyvale, California, U.S., May 22, 2023.

Pool | Reuters

The U.S. will increase tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports in June 2027, at a rate to be determined at least a month in advance, the Trump administration said in a Federal Register filing on Tuesday.

But in the meantime, the initial tariff rate on semiconductor imports from China will be zero for 18 months, according to the filing from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

As part of an investigation that kicked off a year ago, the agency found that China is engaging in unfair trade practices in the industry.

“For decades, China has targeted the semiconductor industry for dominance and has employed increasingly aggressive and sweeping non-market policies and practices in pursuing dominance of the sector,” the office said in the filing.

The decision to delay new tariffs for at least 18 months signals that the Trump administration is seeking to cool any trade hostilities between the U.S. and China.

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Additional tariffs could also become a bargaining chip if future talks break down.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a truce in the so-called trade war in October, as part of a deal that included the U.S. slashing some tariffs and China allowing exports of rare earth metals.

The USTR’s Tuesday filing states that tariffs will increase on June 23, 2027.

The notice is the next step in a process focusing on older chips that started during the Biden administration under Section 301 of the Trade Act.

The new 2027 date gives clarity to American firms that have said they are closely watching how U.S. tariffs could affect their businesses or supply chains.

The tariffs are separate from other duties threatened by the Trump administration on Chinese chip imports under Section 232 of the law.

EUV machines are key source of leverage for U.S. over China in AI race, says CSIS’s Gregory Allen

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