The emergence of the Chinese artificial intelligence platform “DeepSeek” sent shockwaves through the US tech industry, triggering substantial losses in the stock market on Monday. Chip-making giant Nvidia was particularly hard hit, losing a staggering $600 billion in market value. Other US tech companies also suffered significant losses, totaling around $200 billion.
DeepSeek Surpasses ChatGPT in Popularity
DeepSeek’s latest update launched just on January 10th, has seen unprecedented success, even surpassing ChatGPT to become the top-ranked free app on the US Apple App Store.
Modest Investment, Major Impact
Reports from China indicate that the development of DeepSeek cost a mere $6 million. This relatively small investment has caused considerable concern among US tech companies, which collectively poured approximately $200 billion into AI development last year.
Trump’s Response: “A Wake-Up Call”
President Donald Trump addressed the media on Monday, describing the Chinese app as a “wake-up call” for American businesses. He urged US companies to step up their game and compete aggressively in the AI arena. Trump emphasized the need to bolster the nation’s AI infrastructure and pledged that the US government would take decisive action to maintain its competitive edge.
Last week, Trump unveiled the ambitious “Stargate” AI project, a $500 billion initiative in partnership with SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle, aimed at solidifying America’s leadership in the field of artificial intelligence.