The American giant of NVIDIA technology has lost in a sixth of its value after the growing popularity of an application of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) has frightened investors in the United States and Europe.
Deepseek, a Chinese AI chatbot, would have done during a fraction of the cost of its rivals, launched last week, but has already become the most downloaded free application in the United States.
The NVIDIA Chipmaker AI and other AI -connected technological companies, including Microsoft and Google, saw their values tumble on Monday following the sudden rise in Deepseek.
In separate development, Deepseek said on Monday that he would temporarily limit inscriptions due to “large -scale malware” on his software.
The Deepseek chatbot would have been developed for a fraction of the cost of its competitors, raising questions about the future of the domination of the American AI and the extent of the investments that American companies provide.
Last week, Openai joined a group of other companies that undertook to invest $ 500 billion (400 billion pounds Sterling) in the construction of IA infrastructure in the United States.
President Donald Trump, in one of his first announcements since his return to the post, called him “the biggest IA infrastructure project from afar in history” This would help keep “the future of technology” in the United States.
Deepseek is fueled by the open source Deepseek -V3 model, which, according to its researchers, was formed for around 6 million dollars – much less than the billions spent by competitors.
But this assertion was challenged by others in AI.
Researchers say they use already existing technology, as well as the Open Source code – software that can be used, modified or distributed by anyone for free.
Deepseek’s emergence is involved while the United States restricts the sale of advanced fleas technology that feeds AI in China.
To continue their work without stable supplies of imported advanced fleas, the developers of Chinese AI have shared their work between them and have experienced new approaches to technology.
This has led to AI models that require much less computing power than before.
It also means that they cost much less than possible than possible, which has the potential to upset the industry.
After Deepseek-R1 was launched earlier this month, the company boasted of “performance on a par with” one of the last models of Openai when used for tasks such as mathematics, coding and reasoning in natural language.
The venture capital of Silicon Valley and advisor to Trump, Marc Andreessen, described Deepseek-R1 as “the spoutnik moment of AI”, a reference to the satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.
At the time, the United States was considered to be caught by the technological realization of its rival.
The sudden popularity of Deepseek surprised the stock markets in Europe and the United States.
In the United States, Tamias manufacturer of the NVIDIA finished Monday’s trading after plunging 16.9% while his rival Broadcom fell by 17.4%.
Other technological companies have also sank, with Microsoft down 2.14% and the owner of Google dropped by more than 4%.
In Europe, the manufacturer of Dutch chip equipment ASML finished the exchanges on Monday with the course of its actions more than 7% while the actions of Siemens Energy, which make the equipment linked to the AI, had plunged by A fifth.
“This idea of a low -cost Chinese version was not necessarily in the foreground, so it took the market a little,” said Fiona Cincotta, main market analyst at City Index.
“So, if you suddenly get this low -cost AI model, this will raise concerns about the benefits of competitors, in particular given the amount they have already invested in more expensive AI infrastructures.”
The Singapore-based technological action advisor, Vey-Senn Ling, told the BBC that it could “potentially have the investment case for the entire AI supply chain” derail.
But Wall Street’s banking giant, Citi, warned that if Deepseek could question the dominant positions of American companies such as Openai, the problems encountered by Chinese companies could hinder their development.
“We believe that in an inevitably more restrictive environment, access to more advanced fleas is an advantage,” said analysts in a report.
Meanwhile, Deepseek said on Monday that he had been the victim of a cyber attack.
“Due to large-scale malicious attacks against Deepseek services, we temporarily limit registrations to provide continuous service,” he said in a statement.
“Existing users can connect as usual. Thank you for your understanding and support.”
The company was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng in Hangzhou, a city in southeast China.
The 40 -year -old man, a graduate of information and electronic engineering, also founded the Hedge Fund which supported Deepseek.
He would have Building an NVIDIA A100 flea store, now prohibited from export to China.
Experts believe that this collection – that some estimates have been at 50,000 – led it to throw Deepseek, by combining these chips with cheaper and less range fleas that are still available to import.
Mr. Liang was recently seen at a meeting between industry experts and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang.
In an interview of July 2024 with The Chinese AcademyMr. Liang said he was surprised by the reaction to the previous version of his AI model.
“We did not expect prices to be such a sensitive problem,” he said.
“We simply followed our own rhythm, let us calculate the costs and fix the prices accordingly.”
Additional Joao Da Silva and Dearbail Jordan report.