Synopsis
DeepSeek’s chatbot in China experienced a rare seven-hour outage, disrupting users overnight. The startup deployed multiple updates to fix performance issues, with causes unclear. Normally reliable at 99% uptime, the AI firm has sparked speculation about a major update, as rivals like Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent release new AI services.Users began reporting faults on Sunday evening, according to Downdetector. The startup’s own status page acknowledged an initial issue at 9:35 p.m. before marking the incident resolved two hours later. Subsequent updates on Monday showed DeepSeek addressing another case of performance issues that took until 10:33 a.m. to be fixed.
The causes of the outages remain unclear and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The extended downtime is unusual for a globally used app like DeepSeek, which has for over a year carried the mantle of China’s breakthrough artificial intelligence service. It’s also uncommon for DeepSeek itself, which has maintained close to a 99% operational record since it unveiled the popular R1 in January 2025, according to its status page.
Speculation has swirled since the start of the year that Hangzhou-based DeepSeek is preparing to roll out a major update, after its initial splashy debut on January 20 last year. That prompted local rivals from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to ByteDance Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to release a barrage of new AI models and services over the Lunar New Year holiday. Anticipation for DeepSeek’s next big move remains high, though the publicity-shy company has kept mum on a timeline.
