Chinese company takes American technology and makes it much cheaper and more efficient" is a headline that could apply to 10 000 cases over the past 30 years. The fact that it now applies to AI is surprising only in that it happened more quickly than most of us expected.

In late January, DeepSeek exploded onto the world stage. It’s a Chinese AI service claiming to not only match the likes of ChatGPT, made by Open AI, but to do so at only 3% of the cost. Within days, US tech stocks plunged. Nvidia, which makes the most sought-after AI chips, was hit hardest, losing over $600 billion in value in a single day, more than twice the existing daily record.