China’s DeepSeek Tops iPhone Downloads and Spurs AI Selloff
- App’s lower-cost model upends premise for AI spending boom
- Stocks of chip gear makers ASML and Advantest plunge
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Chinese startup DeepSeek’s eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc.’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of America’s lead in AI.
The app’s underlying artificial intelligence model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc.’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain.