Global tech stocks are expected to be hit on Monday following the surprise emergence of a Chinese rival in the AI chatbot space.
Futures trading is pointing to heavy falls in tech and AI stocks in the US when Wall Street opens on Monday.
Shares in AI-related firms based in the US such as Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta are all down on Monday morning ahead of the US markets opening.
The drop has been sparked by the sudden rise of Chinese AI chatbot app DeepSeek, which has jumped to the number two spot on the download charts on Apple’s App Store in Ireland and the top spot in the UK, US and China, sparking a rethink of the landscape of the AI sector.
Until now, the US – home to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, but also many other leading tech firms working on AI technology – has been seen as unmovable as the global leader in AI.
But DeepSeek’s sudden emergence, and claims of performance on par with ChatGPT despite reportedly having been developed for a fraction of the cost, is leading to a re-evaluation of the AI market.
