When DeepSeek launched V3 at 0.27permillioninputtokens,thedeveloperworldcollectivelydidadoubletake.Atthetime,GPT−4owascharging0.27 per million input tokens, the developer world collectively did a double take. At the time, GPT-4o was charging 2.50 per million input tokens — roughly 9x more. Today, the gap has widened further. Chinese frontier models routinely operate at 0.10–0.10–0.50 per million tokens while their Western counterparts hover at 2.00–2.00–15.00. This isn't a temporary discount strategy. It isn't loss-leader pricing to capture market share. The 90–95% price gap reflects structural