A small lab in China has shaken Silicon Valley. The sudden appearance of an advanced AI assistant from DeepSeek, a previously little-known company in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, has sparked discussion and debate within the U.

Fears that the AI gold rush could be under threat rocked Wall Street on Monday following the emergence of a ChatGPT-like model from China, triggering predictions of turmoil for Silicon Valley and accusations of cheating.

DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial-intelligence company, has Silicon Valley marveling over how its programmers nearly matched American rivals despite using inferior chips.