Chinese semiconductor equities advanced in both Hong Kong and mainland sessions on Friday after DeepSeek released previews of its latest open-source AI offering, dubbed DeepSeek V4. Traders interpreted the model's debut as a fresh catalyst for demand tied to artificial intelligence workloads.
In Hong Kong trading, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (HK:0981) climbed about 11%, while Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd (HK:1347) recorded a gain in excess of 18%. On the Mainland, AI-focused chip designers and manufacturers also moved higher: Cambricon Technologies Corp Ltd (SS:688256) and Moore Threads Technology Co Ltd (SS:688795) rose in a range of roughly 4% to 6%, and Hygon Information Technology Co Ltd (SS:688041) advanced more than 10%.
Market optimism followed DeepSeek's release of V4 previews and a technical report accompanying the rollout. The company did not enumerate the precise chip clusters used for model training, but the report indicated the use of processors from both Nvidia and Huawei. Separately, Huawei said its Ascend supernode - which operates the Ascend 950 AI chips - would fully support DeepSeek's V4 models. A recent report also indicated that DeepSeek had trained V4 on Huawei silicon.
Huawei is described in market commentary as one of China's most advanced AI chip manufacturers and an important link in the domestic semiconductor supply chain. The company maintains close partnerships with local foundries such as SMIC and Hua Hong, relationships that are central to the production and deployment of AI-capable hardware within China.
DeepSeek's V4 release is the firm's first comprehensive, ground-up AI model launch since the R1 model surfaced in early-2025. The newer model has emerged as a prominent catalyst for investor interest, reinforcing perceptions of DeepSeek as one of the country's most influential AI startups. Observers note that Chinese chipmakers play a strategic role in national AI ambitions, particularly as policy emphasis favors greater self-reliance in AI development and the supporting hardware ecosystem.
Context and market reaction
The V4 previews prompted a broad, cross-border rally among names linked to AI chip design and wafer manufacturing. The moves highlight the sensitivity of equity flows in the sector to technical milestones from leading AI developers and to confirmations of hardware compatibility from major chip suppliers.
What remains unclear
DeepSeek has not provided a detailed breakdown of the exact training clusters used for V4, leaving some questions about the relative contribution of different hardware platforms to model development. While Huawei has stated support for V4 on its Ascend 950-based supernode, the technical report's language stopped short of a full specification of training environments.