The recovery came after US chipmaker Nvidia closed up 9 per cent on Tuesday, recouping some of the heavy losses that wiped $600bn off its market capitalisation at the start of the week, when investors fretted over the threat from China’s DeepSeek to the US supremacy in artificial intelligence.

DeepSeek topped the Apple App Store chart and sparked fears the Chinese company was quickly catching up with OpenAI's ChatGPT while costing far less.

Nvidia's market value dropped more than $500bn after the emergence of DeepSeek - a low-cost chatbot built by a Chinese AI firm.

DeepSeek's claims that it cost mere millions to build fanned fears that the huge investments into AI by U.S. firms are unwarranted and a bubble waiting to pop.

The Nikkei's three biggest supports were in the semiconductor sphere, led by chipmaking-equipment giant Tokyo Electron, as they tracked a record rally in U.S. peer Nvidia. However, Nissan slumped ...

Nvidia's US$589 billion loss in stock market value is the deepest one-day loss for a company on Wall Street, according to LSEG data. It was more than double the previous one-day record loss, set by Nvidia last September. The tech-rich Nasdaq index finished down more than 3 per cent.

Major AI players, including Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet, saw significant losses, with Nvidia shedding over 11% and losing $400 billion in market value. Analysts highlighted China’s growing challenge to US tech dominance.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed in thin Lunar New Year trading on Tuesday after Wall Street’s tech superstars tumbled as a competitor from China raised doubts over the recent artificial-intelligence market frenzy.

Nvidia drops 12% as DeepSeek’s AI model challenges tech giants’ investments. Nasdaq 100 futures slide 3.5%; traders brace for Big Tech earnings.

Shares in Nvidia, whose semiconductors power the AI industry, fell nearly 17 percent on Wall Street, erasing nearly $600 billion of its market value.

DeepSeek launched a free, open-source large language model in late December, claiming it was developed in just two months at a cost of under $6 million.

The launch and increasing popularity of DeepSeek spurred investors to dump tech stocks globally, with ripples felt from Tokyo to Amsterdam to Silicon Valley. Markets in tech-heavy South Korea and Taiwan are closed for the next few days for Lunar New Year. Mainland China is closed until Feb. 4, leaving the spotlight firmly on Japanese firms.