DeepSeek is claimed to have been trained at a cost of approximately $6 million, significantly less than the $100 million for models like OpenAI's GPT-4. It appears to achieve similar performance with less advanced chips, challenging the notion that only the most expensive hardware is essential for cutting-edge AI. 

DeepSeek's emergence has rattled markets, causing significant losses for major tech companies like Nvidia. This is due to the perception that less resource-intensive AI development is possible, potentially reducing the market for expensive chips. On 27 January, the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 3% in a broad sell-off that included chip makers and data centres around the world.

China’s emergence as a tech power is now at near parity with that of America, as this podcast explains.