ISTANBUL
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek triggered a major tech stock selloff Monday with the release of a free AI assistant that it says uses much less data than its rivals at a fraction of the cost.
The news led to a steep fall in the market value of US chip-maker Nvidia of more than $500 billion.
DeepSeek’s AI model began being used extensively around the world in a short time, leading to deepening selling pressure on technology stocks.
Its AI assistant overtook rivals including OpenAI's ChatGPT to become the most downloaded free app in the US.
China's launch of a low-cost AI model has raised doubts over the dominance of Western companies, especially in the US, in the sector and the huge amount of spending in this field.
The share price of US chip giant Nvidia, which was at $142.62 at Friday’s close, had fallen around 17% to $118.19 as of 2150GMT.
While Nvidia's shares have seen their highest daily loss since March 2020, the company's market capitalization has also decreased by more than $500 billion.
The decrease marked the largest daily decline in US stock market history.
Nvidia also fell from second to third in the ranking of the world's largest companies with a market capitalization of less than $3 trillion.
