DeepSeek’s chatbot experienced a major outage of more than seven hours overnight in China, prompting the AI firm to release multiple updates to fix the problem.
Users first reported issues on Sunday evening, according to Downdetector. DeepSeek’s status page noted an initial disruption at 9:35 p.m., which was marked resolved two hours later. However, further performance problems emerged on Monday, taking until 10:33 a.m. to fully address.
The exact cause of the outages remains unclear, and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Extended downtime is rare for DeepSeek, a globally used AI app that has maintained nearly a 99% uptime record since the launch of its R1 model in January 2025. The company has been recognized as one of China’s leading AI innovators.
Industry speculation suggests that DeepSeek, headquartered in Hangzhou, may be preparing a major update, following its high-profile debut on January 20 last year. The anticipated rollout has fueled competition, prompting rivals such as Alibaba Group, ByteDance, and Tencent Holdings to release new AI models over the Lunar New Year holiday. While anticipation for DeepSeek’s next move remains high, the company has not disclosed a timeline.
#From Bloomberg