Investment Media and Wealth Magazine Chairman Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河) warns that if Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s claims of a low-cost high-performance AI model prove successful, it could mark the beginning of a massive disaster for Nvidia.
The announcement has already sent shockwaves through global markets, with Nvidia's stock plunging 16.97% and TSMC's American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) dropping 13.33% on Monday. Hsieh suggests that Taiwan's stock market could have faced a 1,500-point decline had it been open for trading.
Hsieh wrote on Facebook that if DeepSeek, with an expenditure of just US$6 million, can easily outperform large language models that require at least US$5 billion in investment, the U.S.-China tech race will face unprecedented uncertainty. He noted the timing of DeepSeek's announcement, coming shortly after Trump's US$500 billion tech investment initiative.
Concerns persist regarding DeepSeek's reported possession of over 50,000 Nvidia H100 chips, given current export restrictions. Hsieh drew parallels to 1990s Taiwan, when promises for tech innovations failed to materialize, cautioning that while he lacks the technical expertise to evaluate DeepSeek's claims, this development could be a crucial variable in future capital markets.