DeepSeek Budget AI Model Triggers Two-Day Selloff in MiniMax and Zhipu Shares
Crhk · 2 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago2 MIN
Summary
DeepSeek launched its V4.1 Flash AI model with pricing under 1 US cent per million tokens, triggering a two-day selloff in rival AI stocks. MiniMax (00100.HK) fell nearly 9% on September 10 before dropping another 7% on September 11 to trade at HK$271.2, while Zhipu (02513.HK) plummeted approximately 10% followed by a further 4% decline. The new model features 552 billion parameters and outperforms previous generations in programming and agent tasks, though it still lags behind flagship offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI. Morgan Stanley noted that despite the price cuts, DeepSeek V4 Flash remains priced above its April launch levels and competes with similar offerings from Alibaba and Zhipu. Reuters previously reported that DeepSeek has engaged CITIC Securities as guidance institution for a planned STAR Market IPO this year.
Key Points
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, released September 10, charges less than 1 US cent per 1 million tokens, applying pressure on competitors' pricing strategies
- MiniMax stock closed at HK$271.2 on September 11, down HK$20.8, after falling nearly 9% the previous session
- Zhipu shares dropped to HK$784.5 at the low point, recovering slightly to the HK$790.5 to HK$801.5 range by mid-morning on September 11
- The V4.1 Flash model uses a causal encoder-decoder architecture with 552 billion parameters, activating only a fraction during inference
- Morgan Stanley analysis indicates the pricing remains above DeepSeek's April levels and higher than Alibaba's Qwen3.8-flash and Zhipu's GLM5.3-flash