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DeepSeek, the Chinese startup whose artificial intelligence model caused significant fluctuations in global markets last week, announced that it will limit access to its application programming interface (API) service due to server capacity shortages.
In a statement on its website, the company indicated that it has halted the ability for customers to replenish their API credits in order to mitigate any potential negative effects on their services. It clarified that any existing stored credits will remain unaffected.
“The current balance can still be utilized; we appreciate your understanding!” the company stated.
Since the launch of its artificial intelligence chatbot, which it claims can compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and was developed at a considerably lower cost than rival products, DeepSeek has experienced overwhelming demand since late January. Previously, the company had restricted new user signups to individuals with a mainland China phone number.
The excitement surrounding the latest AI model from the Chinese company has led to a significant decline of $1 trillion in technology stocks across the United States and Europe. This situation has prompted American authorities to take action in order to address potential loopholes in the restrictions on the sale of chips utilized for AI applications. According to sources familiar with the situation, U.S. officials are investigating whether DeepSeek has obtained Nvidia Corp. semiconductors through third-party channels in Singapore, thereby evading the restrictions on exporting AI chips to China, as reported by Bloomberg.
DeepSeek, which has raised concerns among competitors due to its extremely low pricing, announced in its communication that the promotional discounts for accessing its model will conclude on February 8. Following this date, the cost for accessing the chat model will be set at 2 yuan per million input tokens and 8 yuan per million output tokens. Once its reasoning model becomes available, the fees will increase to 4 yuan per million input tokens and 16 yuan per million output tokens.
