Chinese DeepSeek sparks global AI sell-off, Nvidia loses about $593bn of value

Investors sold technology stocks across the globe on Monday as they worried that the emergence of a low-cost Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) model would threaten the dominance of current AI leaders like Nvidia, shaving $592.7 billion off the chipmaker’s market value. Last week, Chinese startup DeepSeek launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, the assistant had overtaken US rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s app store. This led the tech-heavy Nasdaq to fall 3.1 per cent on Monday. Nvidia was the Nasdaq’s biggest drag, with its shares tumbling just under 17pc and marking a record one-day loss in market capitalisation for a Wall Street stock, according to LSEG data. Nvidia’s market-cap loss on Monday was more than double the previous one-day record, set by Nvidia last September.