DeepSeek Just Sent a $600 Billion Shockwave Through Tech - What’s Next?

Hi all,?

If you think this is yet another DeepSeek newsletter, pat yourself on the back. If you are wondering, 'what is DeepSeek?' then pat the rock you are probably living under.

Something wild just happened in the world of AI. A little-known Chinese startup called DeepSeek has - as they say -?woken up and chosen violence. It has upended the whole industry, rattled Wall Street, and left OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft scrambling. And the craziest part? They did it on a budget that is pocket change compared to the billions being poured into AI elsewhere.

For years, we’ve seen and read that building cutting-edge AI requires deep pockets, elite teams, and an endless supply of Nvidia’s best chips. DeepSeek just proved otherwise. Their latest model, R1, is fast, open-source, and completely free - no paywalls, no usage restrictions. And guess what? It just overtook ChatGPT as the top free app on the App Store.

Wall Street did not see this coming. Nvidia's stock alone took a $600 billion beating after DeepSeek's success went public. Think about that. One startup, founded just 20 months ago, caused one of the biggest stock market shake-ups in recent history. Investors panicked, analysts scrambled for answers, and even President Trump weighed in, calling DeepSeek's rise "a wake-up call for America."

And it's not just the US that is looking over their shoulders. Indian IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw publicly appreciated DeepSeek and compared its frugal, high-impact AI model to India's own $1.25 billion AI investment initiative. And just when the world was hoping the dust would settle, Alibaba announced an AI model competitor, claiming it can outperform DeepSeek. Phew! Too much is happening at a breakneck speed that my neck hurts with all the times I’ve had to shake my head in disbelief. The AI arms race just went into overdrive.

But beyond the tech rivalries and financial chaos, this moment is about something bigger. DeepSeek is rewriting the rules of AI. It's proving that powerful models don't have to be locked behind expensive APIs or billion-dollar training costs. While there are debates on how DeepSeek made its model so affordable, the key point is that it’s making AI more accessible, more diverse, and, frankly, a lot more interesting.

If you have tried DeepSeek, share your review and experience in the comments below. Is it better than ChatGPT, as some claim?

See you next week,

Aaqib Raza Khan,

Deputy Editor - Content Innovation,

NDTV