Trump: Release of DeepSeek AI wake-up call for US industries

The US President Donald Trump, says the rise of DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) platform, is “a wake-up call” for America’s industries.

DeepSeek recently became the most downloaded free application on the Apple store, sparking reactions across the global technology industry.

Its success comes despite stringent US export controls imposed in 2022, which limit China’s access to advanced GPU chips.

The Chinese AI company said it trained its latest model using Nvidia’s H800 chips for just $6 million — a fraction of the amount usually required for such systems.

According to the BBC, Trump praised China’s AI advancements on Monday, but warned the US tech industry to view this as a “wake-up call”.

He also urged American companies to focus on innovation and competition to maintain their leadership in the global AI race.

“Today and over the last couple of days, I’ve been reading about China and some of the companies in China, one in particular, coming up with a faster method of AI and much less expensive method. I view that as a positive, as an asset,” he said.

“The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company, should be a wake up call for our industries, that we need to be laser focused on competing to win, because we have the greatest scientists in the world”.

Apart from disrupting the US tech landscape, DeepSeek’s rise also impacted the global financial market.

Nvidia, a leading supplier of AI-critical semiconductors, saw its shares plunge 18 percent on Monday. The broader market also felt the impact, with the S&P 500 dropping 2.3 percent and the Nasdaq 100 plummeting by 3.6 percent.

In a post on X, Sam Altman, the chief executive officer (CEO) of OpenAI, acknowledged DeepSeek’s cost-efficient performance.

He also expressed confidence in OpenAI’s ability to outperform its competition.

“DeepSeek’s R1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they’re able to deliver for the price,” he said.

“We will obviously deliver much better models and also it’s legit invigorating to have a new competitor. We will pull up some releases.”

Trump had recently intensified efforts to secure America as a global leader in AI innovation.

On January 21, he unveiled the $500 billion Stargate Project — a joint venture between Oracle, Japan’s SoftBank, and OpenAI.

The initiative is also expected to create thousands of jobs and bolster national security.