BEIJING, February 27 (Reuters) – Tencent (0700.HK), the Chinese tech giant, has launched a new AI model, Hunyuan Turbo S, which it claims is faster at answering queries than DeepSeek’s R1. This move signals increased pressure on major Chinese tech companies from the rising success of DeepSeek, both domestically and internationally.
The Hunyuan Turbo S can respond to inquiries within a second. According to Tencent, this speed differentiates it from other models, including DeepSeek R1 and Hunyuan T1, which require more time to process information.
When tested in areas such as knowledge, mathematics, and reasoning, Tencent stated that Turbo S’s capabilities were comparable to DeepSeek-V3, the technology behind DeepSeek’s AI chatbot. The DeepSeek chatbot has surpassed OpenAI’s ChatGPT in app store downloads. DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The success of DeepSeek’s R1 and V3 models, which have gained widespread recognition and adoption in Silicon Valley, has prompted other major Chinese tech companies to accelerate the release of their own updated AI models. These efforts began following the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022.
Recently, Alibaba (9988.HK) released the Qwen 2.5-Max model, which it claims outperforms DeepSeek-V3 across the board. This release came shortly after DeepSeek-R1’s success.
Tencent also noted that the cost of using the new Turbo S model is significantly lower than its previous versions. This change reflects how DeepSeek’s open-source approach and competitive pricing have pressured other prominent Chinese AI firms to lower their charges.
