DeepSeek reportedly develops its own AI chips to reduce reliance on external suppliers.

Reuters, citing three informed sources, reported that Chinese startup DeepSeek is developing its own artificial intelligence (AI) chip. This move will reduce its reliance on Nvidia and Huawei chips.

The sources said the chip is designed for inference—the phase in which a trained AI model generates responses for users—rather than for training new models. If successful, DeepSeek's foray into semiconductor development would mark a major strategic shift for the company, which could further intensify the challenges faced by Chinese tech giant Huawei.

DeepSeek's semiconductor project is still in its early stages. The three sources said the company has been in contact with external partners and has held discussions with chip design, wafer manufacturing, and memory companies. One of the sources said the project was launched about a year ago.

Two of the sources said DeepSeek has stepped up recruitment of chip design engineers in recent months. However, the recruitment has been conducted discreetly, with no job postings published on public recruitment platforms.