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DeepSeek is reportedly designing its own AI chip to reduce reliance on Nvidia and Huawei

China's DeepSeek is developing its own inference AI chip, reportedly to be manufactured at SMIC, according to anonymously sourced reporting from Reuters; the move would mark a major strategic shift for the company beyond model development into hardware

AI· active The Long Game·The Quiet Shift ·3 takes · ·rbtfl upd Jul 8, 2026
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The split

The same story, as told by newsrooms in different countries. Their words, attributed and linked.

Netherlands

The Next Web

“Reuters says DeepSeek is designing its own inference AI chip, reportedly fabbed at SMIC. The claims are anonymously sourced, so here is what holds up.”

European tech press; evaluates what of the Reuters report holds up given that sources are anonymousread the original ↗

Japan

Japan Times

“If successful, DeepSeek's expansion into semiconductor development would mark a major strategic shift for a company widely hailed in China.”

Japanese business press; frames the development through the lens of China's chip self-sufficiency drive and geopolitical implicationsread the original ↗

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Summary

DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company that built low-cost reasoning models at a fraction of Western compute budgets, is reportedly designing its own AI inference chip for fabrication at SMIC, China's largest domestic chipmaker. The report, sourced by Reuters to anonymous people familiar with the matter, signals a strategic expansion from model development into hardware. If confirmed, it would end DeepSeek's current reliance on both Nvidia chips and Huawei's Ascend processors. All sourcing remains anonymous; The Next Web notes that SMIC as a fabrication partner and an inference-focused design are the claims most consistent with known constraints.

The split

The Next Web (Netherlands) scrutinises the Reuters sourcing carefully and flags the anonymous basis. Japan Times frames the development through the lens of China's broader chip self-sufficiency push, treating it as geopolitically significant regardless of DeepSeek's individual success. No Chinese-language coverage is included in this edition's verified sources, and Huawei's response to the report is absent.

By the numbers

  • 1, the chip's reported focus: inference (running models, not training)
  • 0, named sources in the Reuters report, per The Next Web's assessment

Why it matters

DeepSeek designing its own chip would remove a key hardware dependency and deepen China's AI supply chain independence at a moment when US export controls limit access to advanced chips. SMIC can produce chips on older process nodes; the inference use case is less demanding than training, making the claim technically plausible.

What to watch

  • Whether DeepSeek or SMIC confirm or deny the report
  • SMIC's reported process node for the chip, which would indicate performance expectations
  • Whether the US adds SMIC to further export restrictions in response

The briefing, by email