DeepSeek AI Shakes Silicon Valley: NVIDIA Loses Billions as Chinese AI Rises

Hold on to your hats, folks. The tech world just got a serious jolt. NVIDIA, the darling of the AI boom, just saw a staggering $384 billion-yes, billion with a "b"-evaporate from its market value in a matter of hours. What caused this financial earthquake? Enter DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup that's suddenly making waves and challenging the Western tech establishment. The DeepSeek Shockwave DeepSeek’s R1 model isn’t just another AI. It’s being whispered about as a potential "Sputnik moment" for AI. Why? Because it's showing it can go toe-to-toe with leading Western AI models, but with a fraction of the resources. We’re talking potentially 1/50th of the training cost compared to some of its US counterparts. That’s a game-changer. The market wasted no time and was ruthlessly efficient. NVIDIA's stock plummeted immediately, as much as 11% in pre-market trading. It was not just NVIDIA that was feeling the heat; even chip equipment giant ASML and other players …