Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek AI is gearing up to release its next-generation AI model, V4, potentially as early as mid-February, according to a report by The Information. The upcoming model is expected to significantly strengthen DeepSeek’s position in the fast-evolving AI landscape, particularly in software development use cases. People familiar with the matter said internal testing shows V4 delivers strong coding capabilities, with employees suggesting it may outperform leading competitors such as Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT models when it comes to programming tasks.
One of the most notable advances in DeepSeek V4 is its reported ability to handle extremely long and complex coding prompts. This capability is especially valuable for developers working on large-scale software projects, where context length and code continuity play a critical role. Improved performance on extended prompts could make V4 more suitable for real-world engineering workflows, including system-level development, refactoring large codebases, and managing multi-file logic.
Headquartered in Hangzhou, DeepSeek has rapidly emerged as a key player in China’s efforts to build a self-reliant AI ecosystem. The company is part of a broader national push to strengthen domestic capabilities in both artificial intelligence and semiconductor technologies. DeepSeek first gained global attention after prominent Silicon Valley executives publicly praised its earlier models, including DeepSeek V3 and the reasoning-focused DeepSeek R1, for their efficiency and performance relative to cost.
DeepSeek has positioned itself as a more affordable alternative to ChatGPT, appealing to enterprises and developers looking to deploy AI at scale without the high costs associated with Western models. This strategy has helped the startup gain traction beyond China, even as it continues to refine its technology for advanced use cases such as coding, reasoning, and long-context understanding.
At the same time, the company has not been without controversy. Reuters has reported that DeepSeek has faced scrutiny in several countries over security and privacy concerns, reflecting broader geopolitical and regulatory sensitivities around Chinese AI technologies. Despite these challenges, anticipation around the V4 release is growing, as developers and industry observers watch closely to see whether DeepSeek can deliver a model that meaningfully challenges the current leaders in AI-assisted programming.
