Shares of MINIMAX-W and Zhipu AI led gains among Hang Seng Tech Index constituents, with MINIMAX-W up 15% and Zhipu AI gaining more than 10% as of the time of writing. This follows DeepSeek’s announcement of plans to significantly increase pricing for its API services, with exact adjustment details to be communicated in subsequent notices. Market analysts noted that DeepSeek’s proposed price hike signals a critical milestone in the commercialization of China’s large-model sector, shifting competition from low prices toward capabilities, use-case alignment, cost efficiency, and monetization effectiveness. A research report from Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities stated that DeepSeek was widely regarded as the 'price disruptor' in China’s domestic LLM space, and its proactive move marks an accelerated end to indiscriminate low-price competition. The report added that DeepSeek’s adjustment effectively raises the floor price across the entire MaaS market, creating room for upward revision of API pricing benchmarks. Since the beginning of this year, multiple leading players—including Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Baidu, Zhipu AI, MiniMax, and Moonshot AI—have successively adjusted their pricing, with DeepSeek now following suit. A Goldman Sachs research report indicated that China’s AI models are projected to achieve a combined annualized recurring revenue of USD 13 billion by the end of 2026, up from the earlier