On September 11, 2026, two seemingly unrelated news stories laid bare the underlying stakes of this AI competition: Zhipu announced a financing of approximately $5 billion, launching a $2 billion share placement based on the closing price of Hong Kong stocks that day and a $3 billion zero-coupon convertible bond issuance, specifically targeting computing power and related infrastructure expansion; on the same day, DeepSeek, originally planning to take down the V4 Pro at noon on September 14 and redirect traffic to V4.1 Flash, unexpectedly reversed course, issuing a new statement that it would continue to keep the DeepSeek V4 Pro API open after September 14, maintaining the existing billing standards. One company is accumulating computing power chips through discounted financing in the secondary market, while the other retracted the upgrade command at a product lifecycle node to stabilize developers. The counter movements of these two companies point to a common thread: the competition in AI has evolved from a simple comparison of model capabilities to a dual contention over underlying computing power infrastructure and the stickiness of upper-layer API ecosystems. The players who dare to continue increasing capital expenditure while retaining users and traffic at critical moments will have a greater opportunity to take the initiative in the new round of reshuffle.
$5 Billion Ammunition: Zhipu Bets on Computing Power Expansion
On September 11, 2026, Zhipu clearly placed its "arms race" figures on the balance sheet: on one side, a $2 billion placement of Hong Kong stocks, intended to issue 21.97 million shares at a placement price of 714 HKD per share, approximately 10% lower than the closing price of 793 HKD that day; on the other side, a larger volume of around $3 billion in zero-coupon convertible bonds, issued at a price nearly near the floor of 100% to 100.5% of the nominal value of 20.14 billion RMB, which can be considered a low-cost debt instrument in the current interest rate environment. The total financing of approximately $5 billion was explicitly marked by the company for the expansion of AI computing power and related infrastructure, which aligns closely with the current industry consensus repeatedly described as a "computing power arms race": leading companies leverage financing capabilities to gain priority ownership of underlying resources.
The use of this money is not ambiguous strategically. Infrastructure such as computing power and data centers has become the most critical and hardest-to-replicate asset for large model companies in the short term. Whoever locks in electricity, facilities, and computing power quotas first will qualify for "bigger fire" in high-quality model training and inference services. Zhipu chooses to use discounted equity to exchange for immediately available cash, layering on a layer of zero-interest, low-cost medium-term debt, essentially raising the entry barriers for the industry with heavier capital expenditure: on the one hand, it locks in computing power supply for the next several years, embedding itself at the forefront of the industrial chain; on the other hand, it also sends a signal to all potential competitors—this battle is no longer a game where a few rounds of small-scale financing can get you a ticket to entry, but rather only those players who can continuously leverage billion-dollar level funds qualify to discuss long-term model evolution and ecological layout.
Discounted Placement and Zero-Coupon Bonds: Stock Price Pressure for Computing Power
With a placement of 21.97 million shares at a price of 714 HKD each, this is about a 10% discount compared to the closing price of 793 HKD on September 11—essentially an open declaration: Zhipu is willing to sacrifice one-time, visible equity dilution and short-term stock price pressure in exchange for an "instant cash" computing power budget. For existing shareholders, the discounted placement lowers the market's anchor point of the company's current equity value, inevitably squeezing short-term sentiment; but from the company’s perspective, this is part of the valuation being realized in cash to secure priority for facility, electricity, and chip procurement—whoever invests money in hardware first gets an early advantage in versioning in the race for computing power.
In contrast to this "hard dilution," the zero-coupon convertible bond of 20.14 billion RMB (approximately $3 billion) is a more concealed layer of chips. With an issuance price ranging from 100% to 100.5% of the nominal value and a maturity date pushed to September 2027, this effectively means the market is willing to bet on Zhipu with very low overall costs for a complete infrastructure construction cycle: for the first two years, the company pays almost no interest, investing capital expenditure upfront, waiting for business and valuation to climb before investors share the upward stock price through conversion. The equity placement spreads the pressure across the current secondary market, while the zero-coupon bond pushes the cost to future equity dilution; the combination of the two is a conscious choice—exchanging more certain short-term stock price pressure for a broader trajectory of computing power and infrastructure expansion.
API Not Taken Offline: DeepSeek Changes Course to Maintain Previous Version
On the same day that the capital markets opened the floodgates for computing power expansion, the interface layer on the other end suddenly hit the brakes. According to a single source, DeepSeek had previously provided a timetable: it planned to take the DeepSeek V4 Pro service offline at 12:00 PM Beijing time on September 14, redirecting all traffic to V4.1 Flash, charging based on V4.1 Flash's standards. For many developers who had tied their business logic to V4 Pro, this would mean being "cut off" from the old line at a fixed point in time, with only the new version as an option, interpreted by many as a typical "forced migration"—actively steering computing power and revenue toward the new product by shutting down the old version.
The turning point occurred on September 11. On that day, DeepSeek released a public statement saying, "In response to the needs of our users, we have decided to continue providing API call services for DeepSeek V4 Pro after September 14, maintaining the existing charging methods, and any changes will be notified separately." This means that the planned offline process has been paused, and the V4 Pro API will not be taken down on the 14th, with the pricing system temporarily remaining the same. Media outlets such as Jinse Finance, Deep Tide TechFlow, and PANews reported this adjustment in API strategy and its "listening to users" statement. From a business logic perspective, DeepSeek chose to forgo the shortcut of forcibly migrating to concentrate traffic and revenue on the new product in the short term, in exchange for developers' expectations of platform stability and emotional security: as the computing power arms race raises the industry barriers, those who dare to create "uncertainty shocks" that push users away will have a better opportunity to turn the API ecosystem into a true long-term moat.
Computing Power Arms Race and Ecological Stickiness: Two Paths Collide
On the same day, the two companies provided two completely different yet convergent answers on the same battlefield. Zhipu placed a $5 billion bet on the "base": around $2 billion in Hong Kong stock placement and around $3 billion in zero-coupon convertible bonds, priced approximately 10% lower than the day’s closing price, in exchange for priority ingress rights for the upcoming years to expand AI computing power and infrastructure; DeepSeek placed its bet on the "upper level": the V4 Pro API, originally planned for termination on September 14, would remain open, with billing methods unchanged, sacrificing short-term product migration and potential price hikes to stabilize developers' expectations for a stable platform.
Capital expenditure on computing power and ecological stickiness are not mutually exclusive topics here but represent two ends of the same tension in one game: Zhipu's heavy asset investment attempts to raise the threshold of "who is qualified to train and deploy large models" to a level that only a few players can cross; DeepSeek's API strategy adjustment, on the other hand, continues to amplify the question of "who can retain developers" within the same threshold. As a result, while leading companies accumulate computing power resources through equity and low-cost debt on one side, and enhance the network effects through open APIs and platform tools on the other, the costs of entering and exiting the industry are both rising, compressing the space available for small and medium players into increasingly narrow survival gaps.
Capital and Product Game: The Next Round of Racing Window
Zhipu leverages approximately $5 billion to buy computing power, while DeepSeek slams the brakes to preserve the V4 Pro API; this contrasting pair of moves serves as a reminder to the industry: in the new round of AI racing, "who has resources" no longer overshadows "who has users"; both computing power chips and developer chips are essential—lacking either piece could disrupt the pace of a company. On the capital markets side, as of September 11, 2026, Zhipu had yet to provide a clear timeline for the completion of this placement and zero-coupon convertible bonds, underwriting lineup, and the financial distribution details between computing power and other infrastructures, leaving valuation and expectations to undergo a lengthy "price discovery" process within the Hong Kong AI sector; on the product side, although DeepSeek canceled its plan to take down the V4 Pro on September 14, it only promised to notify of any changes later, similarly leaving the ultimate product line structure in future negotiations. Both companies have chosen to expand computing power with high leverage and stabilize the ecosystem with API strategies, shifting the battlefield from a single technical competition to a composite game of "financing capability × product patience." What will truly determine the game will be Zhipu's funds arriving and deployment rhythm, whether DeepSeek will rearrange the new and old model and revenue structures again, and whether other leading players will follow this "stockpile computing power before locking in ecosystems" combination punch.
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