China's artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek's AI model has surpassed ChatGPT to become the number one downloaded app on the US Apple App Store. Known for having training costs only one-tenth of existing models, it has impacted tech stocks including Nvidia and shaken the cryptocurrency market such as Bitcoin.
According to Yonhap News, Reuters, and Bloomberg on the 27th, DeepSeek's AI assistant ranked first in the free app download rankings on the Apple App Store, pushing OpenAI's ChatGPT to second place. This came just one week after DeepSeek launched its inference AI model, the DeepSeek-R1 series, on the 20th. DeepSeek utilized Nvidia's low-spec chips to avoid US export restrictions.
Above all, cost-effectiveness is its strength. The New York Times (NYT), citing a technical report explaining DeepSeek's development process, stated, "The cost invested in developing DeepSeek-V3 was $5,576,000 (approximately 7.88 billion KRW)," adding, "This was calculated based on renting Nvidia’s ‘H800 GPU’ at $2 per hour for two months." The NYT also noted that this cost is about one-tenth of what Meta spent training its latest AI model, Llama 3, using the ‘H100’. Venture capitalist Mark Andreessen, known as an ally of former President Trump, referred to the launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 as the world’s first artificial satellite, calling this moment "AI’s Sputnik."
Following DeepSeek’s emergence, Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Japanese stock markets saw a simultaneous rise in Chinese tech companies linked to DeepSeek’s business model. Conversely, tech stocks led by Nvidia showed weakness, and Nasdaq futures fell during Asian trading hours on the 27th. In the Japanese stock market, SoftBank plunged more than 8%, and in European markets, Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML dropped sharply by 9.4% in early trading. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies also experienced sharp intraday declines.
U.S. President Donald Trump held a press conference at the White House on the 21st to announce an investment plan for artificial intelligence (AI). Larry Ellison, Chairman of Oracle; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; and Masayoshi Son, Chairman of SoftBank (from left to right, next to President Trump), are listening to President Trump's remarks. Photo by EPA, Yonhap News
The arrival of DeepSeek has also dimmed former President Trump’s ambitious declaration of an ‘AI superpower.’ On the 21st (local time), the day after his inauguration, Trump personally announced at a White House press conference the establishment of ‘Stargate,’ an AI joint venture between OpenAI, Japan’s SoftBank, and US software company Oracle. Through this joint venture, they plan to invest at least $500 billion (approximately 718 trillion KRW) in the US AI industry. Trump stated, "This investment money would normally have gone to China or other countries, especially China." On his first day in office, the 20th, Trump repealed AI regulations created during the Biden administration, and the day before his inauguration, he also said he would make it easier to invest in ‘AI power plants.’
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
