AI Disruption: Wall Street Shaken by DeepSeek's Breakthrough

Wall Street faces turbulence as DeepSeek's affordable AI model challenges market giants like Nvidia. The Chinese startup's assistant topped App Store charts, sparking discussions on potential industry disruption. Key players in AI and stock indexes faced declines, while geopolitical and economic factors added to market uncertainties.

Wall Street braced for a rocky start this week as DeepSeek, a Chinese startup, unveiled a low-cost AI model. The model challenged leading chipmaker Nvidia, prompting a market selloff. DeepSeek's AI Assistant quickly became the top-ranked free app on Apple's U.S. App Store, surpassing ChatGPT.

Market analysts speculate on the model's disruptive capabilities. "If DeepSeek's AI proves transformative, AI stocks and the broader market might be re-evaluated," noted Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments. Notably, Nvidia's shares tumbled 11.4% premarket.

Under broader market pressures, major players like Microsoft and Meta saw share reductions, while power companies like Vistra faced over 14% decreases. Meanwhile, geopolitical and economic influences continued to loom, with attention on tariffs and Federal Reserve decisions.

(With inputs from agencies.)