U.S. companies were spooked when the Chinese startup released models said to match or outperform leading American ones at a fraction of the cost.

The technology-dominated index slipped 3.07% to finish at 19,341.83. The S&P 500 shed 1.46% and closed at 6,012.28. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to add 289.33 points, or 0.65%, settling at 44,713.58.

Here's an overview of other leading AI models in China, from Alibaba Cloud's Qwen-2.5-1M to Moonshot AI's Kimi k1.5.

China's AI bot DeepSeek censored answers about Hong Kong's protests, Taiwan's status and other topics when asked questions by HKFP.

DeepSeek is also keen to toe the official line on Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous territory that saw massive anti-Beijing unrest in 2019. It blamed that unrest - which saw millions take to the streets to call for more autonomy for the city - on a "very small number of people with ulterior motives".

People across China have taken to social media to hail the success of its homegrown tech startup DeepSeek and its founder, after the company unveiled its newest artificial intelligence model, sending shock waves through Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

Wen Shuhao helped speed up the development of Pfizer’s Covid oral drug, Paxlovid. Now the chairman of Xtalpi wants to help make better solar panels and EV batteries.

Interest rate reductions are likely to be slower. Resilience, costs, and digital transformation are the top priorities of Hong Kong’s banking sector in 2025, as losses by banks and customers continue to make headlines,

Stocks rise on bets investors will look for cheaper options after DeepSeek’s popular low-cost AI model sparked a US$1 trillion tech rout.

DeepSeek says its AI model is similar to US giants like OpenAI, despite fears of censorship around issues sensitive to Beijing

China's technological capabilities may be advancing faster than previously thought, challenging U.S. dominance in AI, digital payments, reserve currency and global trade

DeepSeek has triggered a dramatic rethink on artificial intelligence spending around the world, except perhaps in China. The startup's impressive low-cost model showcases the country's innovation prowess.