They have barely spent five days since its launch, but Deepseek R1 has caused An earthquake in markets (-6.5% NVIDIA, -3.5% Microsoft, -8% ASML) that goes beyond its technical efficiency.
The true threat to the American industry is in its open nature: Depseek is democratizing technology that Silicon Valley has kept jealously stored after its own walls.
Why is it important. The western industry of AI has been built on two pillars that Depseek has just dynamit:
- The need for multi -million dollar investments in hardware.
- The extreme secretism about the architecture of its models.
The money trail. Wall Street is reacting hard because Depseek directly threatens the dominant business model that has taken us here.
Investors ask questions: how to justify projects such as Stargate (and its half billion dollars) If there is an open and efficient alternative? What value intellectual property when your competitors openly publish their advances?
Between the lines. The Chinese strategy seems clear: to use the open source as a Trojan horse to destabilize Western domain in AI. It is no coincidence that Depseek has chosen this moment, when:
- American models show signs of stagnation (where is it GPT-5?).
- Inversiones in infrastructure are triggered.
- Business models remain without clarifying.
The big question. Several experts have pointed out that we are facing Sputnik moment For AI: when the United States discovered that it did not have the monopoly of advance in the space race. R1 has that magnitude, or do you have to relax expectations about its implications?
Perhaps “only” (add all the quotes they want) we are rather at a Linux time: their arrival democratized the operating system starting from open source as a disruptive tool, but the industry continued to thrive. Windows did not disappear, he simply adapted to a new scenario in which open and closed source coexist.
- The difference is in the rhythm. Linux took years to seriously impact the market. R1 has caused immediate shaking even in stock assets of giants.
- Perhaps the market understands that AI is too valuable and promising to afford as closed and expensive development as the current one.
Whether it is a Sputnik as if it is a Linux, R1 marks a before and after: it shows that the toe can be created more openly and efficiently.
Yes, but. There are certain persistent doubts about the real costs of Deepseek. THE CEO OF SCALE AI He has suggested They have more hardware access than they say, but hide it for violating commercial restrictions.
Even so, even if their costs were greater, R1 would continue to have a strong impact on the industry to choose the open model for such a powerful model.
The time of truth. The American’s industry now has a dilemma: or maintain its current model, based on very high investments and a strong secrecy, risking being displaced by Chinese efficiency … or pivoting towards a greater opening to compete on the board raised by Deepseek .
Deepen. The analogy with Sputnik beyond technological surprise. As then, this moment can catalyze a transformation in how technology develops and markets. The difference is that this time disruption does not come from the state apparatus but from the Chinese private sector, and its weapon is not the space race but the open source for AI.
China, frequently criticized for its control over information, is using the openness and transparency to stand up to Western technological domain.
In Xataka | Two years and 60 million users later: how Luzia has become the greatest success produced by Spain
Outstanding image | Deepseek, Xataka with Mockuuuups Studio