China’s DeepSeek prices new V4 AI model at 97% below OpenAI’s GPT-5.5

SCMP Tech — Apr 28, 00:00 ★★★★★

DeepSeek priced its V4 model at 97% below OpenAI's GPT-5.5 rates, initiating a price war that fundamentally shifts the AI API economics.

DeepSeek announced massive price cuts for V4 and input cache hits across its API platforms, undercutting OpenAI's pricing by nearly two orders of magnitude. By reducing costs for reused context (cache hits) to 10% of original rates and offering 75% discounts on V4 Pro, DeepSeek is attacking the unit economics of OpenAI's dominant API business.

Oliver's take: Pricing at 97% discount signals DeepSeek can afford to bleed margin to build API volume. OpenAI's customers were paying for convenience and brand lock-in, not capital efficiency. That lock-in just became expensive to maintain.

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#DeepSeek #OpenAI #Pricing #API #Competition

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