That might be a bigger problem for investors. The AI app was created for a few million dollars, billions less than U.S. models like OpenAI. And it was all done without the top-of-the-line chips that require so much energy.

A frenzy over an artificial intelligence chatbot made by Chinese tech startup DeepSeek was upending stock markets Monday and fueling debates over the economic and geopolitical competition between the U.

A Chinese company’s cut-rate computing solution has upended the tech world, with companies, investors and even the U.S. government trying to understand what it means for the future.