Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s release of cost-effective AI models sparked a global tech stock selloff, with the Nasdaq 100 futures dropping over 5% and Nvidia shares falling by 10%. The market faces a potential $1.2 trillion capitalization loss. DeepSeek’s AI assistant surpassed ChatGPT on the Apple App Store, leveraging a significantly lower training cost of under $6 million compared to typical expenses of over $100 million. Analysts suggest this breakthrough could challenge US dominance in AI and disrupt investment models reliant on high AI hardware spending. Meanwhile, some Chinese firms gained, amidst overall market turmoil.