Huawei pressure blamed for DeepSeek's next-gen AI model delay

DeepSeek rattled the AI industry when it unveiled the R1 model earlier this year, proving that a sophisticated AI model doesn't need an egregious amount of GPU horsepower to compete with already existing AI models.

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But where is the company's next-generation AI model, R2? According to a report from the Financial Times, the upcoming AI model was blundered when the company was pressured by the Chinese government to use Huawei chips to develop it. Three unnamed sources spoke to the publication and said the upcoming model is struggling in development due to unstable Huawei chips, immature software, and other factors. Notably, these unnamed individuals said the new model wasn't even able to complete a single training run.

DeepSeek R2 was initially planned for release in May 2025, but was postponed with no reason provided. It was noted that the R2 model's performance was falling below the standards set by the company, specifically DeepSeek's CEO Liang Wenfeng. There were also trade restrictions on NVIDIA's AI GPUs, which are now coming down as a new deal has been struck between AI GPU makers and the US government.

Reports now state the delay of the R2 model can be traced back to Huawei's Ascend accelerators, specifically the Ascend 910C, and now DeepSeek is opting for NVIDIA's H20 GPUs instead.