[News] DeepSeek Adoption Reportedly Fuels NVIDIA H20 Orders, Led by Tencent, ByteDance, Alibaba

Although there were previous concerns that DeepSeek might slow down the AI chip market, according to Reuters, Chinese companies are ramping up orders for NVIDIA’s H20 AI chips due to the growing demand for DeepSeek’s low-cost AI models.

The report, citing sources, highlights that in response to DeepSeek’s success, Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance have ramped up their orders for NVIDIA’s H20 AI chip, which was specifically designed for the Chinese market to comply with U.S. export restrictions.

As the report notes, in addition to fulfilling their own demand for advanced AI chips, these three Chinese companies offer cloud computing services, allowing other businesses to access and leverage AI tools through their platforms.

Beyond these major companies, the report, citing sources, points out that smaller firms in industries such as healthcare and education are also acquiring AI servers powered by DeepSeek models and NVIDIA H20 chips.

The report mentions that as U.S. President Donald Trump considers new restrictions on the sale of NVIDIA’s H20 chip to China, the potential for further regulatory controls may be a key driver behind the recent surge in orders. However, sources cited in the report suggest that the rise of DeepSeek could be the primary factor.

Meanwhile, as DeepSeek AI models see wider adoption, they are expected to strengthen Chinese chipmakers like Huawei in the domestic market, particularly because of their focus on inference. However, the report emphasizes that NVIDIA’s H20 chip remains the dominant industry standard in China.

Chinese Tech Giants Accelerate DeepSeek Adoption

Multiple Chinese companies have already embraced DeepSeek’s models. Notably, according to a report from Nikkei, Tencent recently began beta testing DeepSeek’s integration on Weixin, the domestic version of WeChat, intensifying competition with rival Baidu.

Moreover, chatbots aren’t the only domain where DeepSeek is gaining traction. The Nikkei report also mentions that Chinese EV giant BYD has announced plans to incorporate DeepSeek’s large model capabilities into its intelligent vehicle architecture.

TrendForce highlights that DeepSeek’s influence will drive CSPs toward lower-cost proprietary ASIC solutions, shifting focus from AI training to AI inference. This shift is expected to gradually increase the share of AI inference servers to nearly 50%.

Read more

• [News] 20 Global Tech Giants Announce Integration with DeepSeek
• AI Server Growth in 2025 Faces Uncertainties, DeepSeek Effect to Boost AI Inference Share, Says TrendForce
• [News] China Launches Antitrust Probe into NVIDIA over Mellanox Deal, Heightening U.S. Chip Tensions

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)