DeepSeek’s long-awaited flagship V4 model has fallen short of its domestic and US rivals, according to a new analysis, as the Chinese artificial intelligence firm struggles to replicate the market-shaking success of its earlier R1 release.

The company’s most advanced system, V4 Pro, ranked second among the world’s leading open-source models, behind Beijing-based Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2.6, benchmark firm Artificial Analysis said in a report on Friday.

While V4 Pro marked a clear improvement on its...