about a year ago DeepSeek appeared on the radar of many people in the loudest way possible, with an impact that was noticed even on Wall Street. If the name sounds familiar to you, it comes from there. The interesting thing is that, twelve months later, its weight in the public conversation no longer seems the same, but that does not mean that it has disappeared from the board. In parallel, and according to the diagnosis that Microsoft now proposes, the Chinese startup continues to gain traction.
The success of DeepSeek is worrying in the US. The warning comes from within the American ecosystem itself. Microsoft has warned that US AI groups face growing pressure from Chinese rivals in the battle for users in several markets, precisely because of the combination of “open” models and low prices.
The winning strategy. What explains DeepSeek’s expansion has less to do with marketing and more to do with accessibility. The Redmond giant maintains in its report ‘Global AI Adoption in 2025‘that the company has reduced barriers to entry by offering a free chatbot on web and mobile, an especially attractive combination in cost-sensitive markets.
DeepSeek also makes money. It is worth clarifying this so as not to be fooled: just because the chatbot is free does not mean that it does not have a business model. The firm founded by Liang Wenfeng distributes its technology with an open approach, with code under the MIT license and a separate licensing scheme for model weights. And, as is the case with most players in this industry, monetization is usually in the professional field: API accessthe interface that allows developers and companies to integrate these models into their own applications and services, is where much of the economic value is concentrated.
Microsoft Map with Estimated DeepSeek Market Share
The adoption map. The analysis itself places DeepSeek’s growth far from the markets where the technological narrative is traditionally decided, and breaks it down into two types of scenarios: emerging countries and countries where US services are limited or restricted. According to usage data, it is estimated that the Chinese group would have around 18% share in Ethiopia and 17% in Zimbabwe. And where American technological products are limited or restricted, the advance would be even greater, always according to these estimates: 56% in Belarus, 49% in Cuba and 43% in Russia.
Target: Africa. Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, stated in an interview with the Financial Times thatif AI is to be deployed in Africa at scale, the problem is not just the software, but the infrastructure that supports it. According to their analysis, many African countries will need investment to build data centers and, in addition, mechanisms to subsidize the cost of electricity, one of the major operational limits. And here he introduces a relevant point: if the race depends solely on private capital, “it will not be enough” to compete with companies backed with a level of subsidy like the one that, he maintains, Chinese companies frequently have.
A success that is still being measured. In essence, this case leaves a fairly clear idea: although DeepSeek sounds less popular today than it did a year ago, its approach is having a real impact in markets where it is not so easy for large American technology companies to deploy. It is an expansion that is driven more by accessibility than by narrative, and that is why it is also difficult to follow it from the West, until the data begins to appear. From here, the most interesting thing will be to see what happens in 2026: if DeepSeek manages to sustain that advantage and what other Chinese models, pushed by the same combination of openness, price and internal support, decide to follow in its wake.
Images | Xataka with Gemini 3 Pro | Screenshot
In Xataka | Anthropic has rewritten his 25,000-word “Constitution” for Claude. It is the manual for how AI should behave
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings