DeepSeek V4 Photo: VCG
From a humanoid robot half-marathon in Beijing to the global spotlight of the Beijing Auto Show and the debut of DeepSeek-V4, Chinese technological milestones have dominated international headlines over the past week.
Yet the true story is not just the individual breakthroughs, but the speed and synergy of their arrival. In a matter of days, China has demonstrated a surging capacity to drive simultaneous advancements across frontier sectors, spanning robotics, new-energy vehicles, and artificial intelligence.
Rather than isolated successes, they represent the powerful convergence of China’s growing technological strength, one Chinese analyst noted, emphasizing that these achievements underscore the country’s ability to forge ahead through homegrown innovation and technology self-reliance, even in the face of external pressures.
Another ‘DeepSeek Moment’
On Friday, five months since it rolled its V3.2, DeepSeek unveiled its latest DeepSeek-V4 model, which includes the V4-Pro and V4-Flashpreview versions. The new model, featuring a massive 1-million-token context window and strong overall performance, was immediately open-sourced. On the same day, Huawei announced full support for the entire DeepSeek-V4 series across its Ascend super node lineup through close chip-model collaboration.
While the announcement itself was straightforward, international media coverage over the weekend offered distinctly different angles, from strategic hardware shifts and performance benchmarks to long-term industrial implications.
Bloomberg, citing an article from social media account Yuyuantantian, reported on Sunday that DeepSeek’s delayed release of its V4 model points to a strategic shift toward deeper integration with China’s domestic chip ecosystem.
Rather than prioritizing rapid iteration, DeepSeek spent months reworking its software stack to optimize performance on Huawei Technologies Co.’s Ascend chips, moving beyond basic compatibility toward hardware-specific tuning, the account said on Sunday. The approach aligns with Beijing’s push for greater self-reliance across the AI supply chain, Bloomberg said.
Ma Jihua, a veteran industry expert, told the Global Times on Sunday that the previous “DeepSeek Moment” proved that large models can achieve high efficiency even with limited computing power. “This time, it demonstrates that domestic chips are fully capable of supporting high-performance large models. This is undoubtedly another critical step forward,” Ma said.
This localized hardware-software partnership fosters a self-developed, well-structured and controllable AI industrial framework with profound strategic value. Its core significance lies in proving that China can cultivate a mature, robust AI ecosystem through coordinated innovation between domestic hardware and software developers, Ma noted.
Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, said in an AP News report on Saturday that DeepSeek’s V4 rollout is as a “pivotal milestone for China’s AI industry,” especially as global competition intensifies in the pursuit of self-reliance in critical technologies.
Fortune noted on Friday that “DeepSeek’s ability to train and run its model on Huawei chips could represent another step away from US chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD.” It said that US export controls may have helped Chinese AI startups, including DeepSeek, learn how to operate in a world of scarce processing power.
“Because Chinese developers have been forced to train and run models with limited resources, they had to come up with ways to make their models much more efficient. This power efficiency has, in turn, allowed Chinese developers to reduce prices substantially. US pressure also forced China’s semiconductor sector to accelerate plans to manufacture chips domestically,” it reported.
In addition to its compatibility with domestic chips, international media also paid significant attention to the model’s outstanding cost-performance ratio and its open-source nature.
Reuters, citing a DeepSeek paper released alongside the model, said on Friday that in maximum reasoning mode, Pro outperforms all open-source models, though it still trails frontier closed-source systems such as Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro and OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 in some areas.
“AI development is not a competition, but a service for people,” Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Zhongguancun Modern Information Consumer Application Industry Technology Alliance, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Xiang noted that Chinese large language models, including DeepSeek, have become the preferred choice for many enterprises due to their exceptionally high cost-performance ratio and consistent commitment to open-source principles.
“The open-source model of Chinese large language models is helping developing countries bridge the AI development gap,” Xiang said.
Tech self-sufficiency
An HONOR Robotics D1 humanoid robot, dubbed “Lightning,” runs at the 2nd Humanoid Robot Half Marathon held in Beijing on April 19, 2026. Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT
In addition to the new DeepSeek release, on April 19, the humanoid robot “Lightning” designed by Honor won the 2026 Beijing E-Town humanoid robot half-marathon with a net time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds, shattering the human half-marathon world record.
Moreover, the 2026 Beijing Auto Show, which kicked off on Friday, is expected to attract close to 1 million visitors, setting a new record for global auto shows and becoming the largest automotive industry gathering in the world, where new-energy models accounted for over 80 percent of the total models on display.
Foreign visitors try out the a split-type modular flying car developed by Chinese electric vehicle maker XPENG, at the 2026 Beijing Auto Show on April 24, 2026. Photo: Li Hao/GT
China’s recent achievements in the fields of humanoid robotics, new-energy vehicles, and large language models over the past week did not happen overnight, nor were they the result of breakthroughs in any single project. Rather, they represent the manifestation of a comprehensive capability, Xiang noted.
“Specifically speaking, the capability is built upon the mutual support of three fundamental elements: materials, energy and information. China is currently in a phase of growth in its overall national strength, where robust infrastructure, high social efficiency, strong policy support, abundant talent reserves and a well-developed industrial ecosystem form a cohesive system,” Xiang added.
China has also forged its own path in science and technology while facing Western blockades and sanctions, Ma said.
In recent years, the US-led West has enforced strict export controls on China’s high-tech industry, including restrictions on advanced semiconductors, AI chips and related manufacturing equipment.
Recently, the White House has accused China of industrial-scale stealing of American artificial intelligence intellectual property, which Chinese Foreign Ministry firmly rejected, saying that such allegations are groundless and are deliberate attacks on China’s development and progress in the AI industry.
Amid turbulent global headwinds, China remains steadfastly focused on its own trajectory. Technological self-reliance is not synonymous with isolation; rather, it fuses global openness with powerful endogenous momentum. This approach has propelled China from a follower to a pacesetter, Ma noted, anchoring the nation’s high-quality development while contributing Chinese solutions to global scientific progress.
This ethos was aptly captured by DeepSeek at the close of its latest product release, which quoted the ancient Chinese philosopher Xunzi: “Not lured by praise, not frightened by slander, follow the righteous path and discipline oneself with integrity.”