A post on X at 04:12 UTC on September 26, 2026 announced a DeepSeek V5 leak under the headline Beats Astra. It says “DeepSeek is reportedly preparing an imminent V5 launch”, that Liang Wenfeng calls it the company’s biggest bet, that it is “Rumored at 2 trillion parameters (not 3T)”, and that it is the “first DeepSeek model to train fully on Huawei Ascend chips instead of Nvidia”. The image attached to the post is DeepSeek’s whale logo with v5 typed beside it. There is no chart, no table and no score in it.
Some of the reporting underneath is real. The conclusions drawn from it are not. This page separates the two, and it stays open until DeepSeek publishes something.
On this page · 8 sectionsOpen
- DeepSeek has said nothing about V5. Its news page and API change log end at V4.1 Flash, released September 10, 2026, and DeepSeek has said a V4.1 Pro comes next.
- The only V5 timing in print is a Bank of America forecast, relayed by 36Kr on September 2: V5 is expected to debut in the second half of 2026. A forecast, not a launch notice.
- The Information reported on September 23 that DeepSeek is training a model of about 2 trillion parameters, with 8 trillion as the next goal. No report calls that model V5.
- The biggest bet quote is about chips. The Information reported on September 21 that Liang Wenfeng told investors training on Huawei chips is one of the company’s biggest bets.
- Trained fully on Ascend is not supported: Huawei training chips are expected as early as the fourth quarter of 2026, and the Ascend order Bloomberg reported was mainly for running models.
- Beats Astra has no source. The card attached to the viral post is DeepSeek’s logo with v5 typed beside it, with no benchmark in it.
§ 01What the record says, claim by claim
| Claim on the card | What the record says | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Imminent V5 launch | One Bank of America forecast of the second half of 2026, relayed by 36Kr on Sep 2; nothing from DeepSeek | Forecast, not a launch |
| Liang calls it the biggest bet | He told investors training on Huawei chips is one of the company’s biggest bets (The Information, Sep 21) | About chips, not V5 |
| 2 trillion parameters | A model of about 2 trillion parameters is in training (The Information via 36Kr, Sep 23) | Reported, not called V5 |
| Trained fully on Huawei Ascend | Huawei training chips expected as early as Q4 2026; the Ascend order Bloomberg reported was mainly for running models | Not supported |
| About 4x more Ascend chips than Nvidia | Traces to an estimate Liang gave investors for a hypothetical training run, relayed by TrendForce citing Chosun Biz | An estimate, not a V5 fact |
| Keeps open weights | Recent DeepSeek models ship open weights; no V5 statement | Pattern, not a promise |
| Beats GPT-6 Astra | No benchmark, sheet or eval page exists | No source |
§ 02Where each claim came from
The V5 timing. 36Kr’s September 2 roundup of a Bank of America outlook says: “DeepSeek V5 and the upgraded version of ByteDance’s Seed series are expected to debut in the second half of 2026”. That is a bank’s expectation about a quarter, not a report from inside DeepSeek.
The 2 trillion parameters. 36Kr, on September 23: “according to The Information, DeepSeek is currently training a new model with about 2 trillion parameters”. The same piece says Liang Wenfeng told a recent investor meeting that “the company’s next plan is to continue pushing the model to 8 trillion parameters”. For scale, TrendForce, citing Chosun Biz, puts Qwen 3.8 Max at 2.4 trillion parameters and Kimi K3 at 2.8 trillion. A 2 trillion model would not be the largest Chinese model. None of these reports gives the model a name.
The biggest bet. The Information’s own post, September 21 at 15:30 UTC: “training AI models on Huawei chips is one of the company’s biggest bets”. The bet is the chip strategy. The card moved the words onto V5.
Trained fully on Ascend. The same post says DeepSeek expects “a new batch of Huawei training chips as early as the fourth quarter”. A model already trained fully on those chips would need them before they ship. Bloomberg’s September 4 report on DeepSeek’s order for at least 160,000 Ascend chips is summarized by TrendForce this way: “At the time, the chips were expected to be used primarily to run AI models rather than for training.”
Beats Astra. Nothing in the post, the image or any report carries a V5 score. Replies to the post asked for evidence and pointed at the image within hours.
§ 03The chain, dated
§ 04DeepSeek’s own plan points at V4.1 Pro first
DeepSeek’s September 10 launch called V4.1 Flash the smallest model in a new architecture family, and its pricing page names a V4.1 Pro. On DeepSeek’s own stated order, V4.1 Pro is the next release, and a V5 would follow it. That is our reading of DeepSeek’s pages, not something DeepSeek has said about V5. Our V4.1 Flash record has the full launch, the prices and the claims we graded then.
§ 05Where CellCog stands
Our conflict, declared: we build CellCog, a platform where a business hires AI employees that keep memory and work as a team, and we choose the models underneath them. CellCog does not route to DeepSeek today. If V5 ships and earns a place under our employees, we will say so the day it happens, with receipts.
§ 06What we are watching for
- A V5 or V4.1 Pro entry on DeepSeek’s news page or API change log, and a new repository under deepseek-ai on Hugging Face.
- A DeepSeek post on X from its own account.
- A new DeepSeek model id on OpenRouter.
- Any named report that ties the 2 trillion model to the V5 name.
§ 07Update log
- September 26, 2026: page opened after the viral V5 card. Seven claims graded; no DeepSeek statement.
§ 08Sources
- The Information on X, September 21, 2026: post
- 36Kr, September 2, 2026 (Bank of America outlook): article
- 36Kr, September 23, 2026 (citing The Information): article
- TrendForce, September 23, 2026 (citing Bloomberg and Chosun Biz): article
- DeepSeek news page: deepseek.com/en/news
- DeepSeek API change log: api-docs.deepseek.com/updates
- The viral post: x.com
Q1Did DeepSeek announce V5?
No. DeepSeek’s news page lists V4.1 Flash as its latest release, dated September 10, 2026, and its API change log has no V5 entry. DeepSeek said at that launch that V4.1 Flash is the smallest model in a new architecture family and that a V4.1 Pro is coming.
Q2Is DeepSeek training a 2 trillion parameter model?
The Information reported it, as relayed by 36Kr on September 23, 2026: DeepSeek is training a new model with about 2 trillion parameters, and Liang Wenfeng told investors the next plan is to push to 8 trillion. DeepSeek has not confirmed it, and no report names that model V5.
Q3Was DeepSeek V5 trained on Huawei Ascend chips?
Nothing supports that. The Information reported DeepSeek expects a new batch of Huawei training chips as early as the fourth quarter of 2026. Bloomberg reported in early September that the Ascend chips DeepSeek ordered were expected mainly to run models, not train them.
Q4Does DeepSeek V5 beat GPT-6 Astra?
There is no benchmark to judge. The viral post’s image is the DeepSeek logo with v5 set beside it, and no report, leak sheet or eval page shows a V5 score. Replies to the post asked for evidence within hours.
Q5Will DeepSeek V5 be open weights?
DeepSeek has released open weights for its recent models, including V4.1 Flash under the MIT license. It has said nothing about V5 licensing, so open weights is a pattern, not a promise.