Sawt Falasteen - DeepSeek success shows China's 'ability to innovate': official

The startup released a new version of its AI chatbot in January, sending shockwaves across global markets.

DeepSeek wowed industry insiders with its apparent ability to rival or even surpass the capabilities of Western competitors like ChatGPT at a fraction of the cost.

"DeepSeek has stood out in the global field of AI," said Wu Qing, Chairman of China's Securities Regulatory Commission.

"It is not just that the field of AI has been deeply shocked, but now also the world and the financial community have a new understanding of China's ability to innovate in science and technology," he said.

The official added that DeepSeek had contributed to a "recent re-evaluation of Chinese assets".

"If someone does not talk about DeepSeek these days, it seems that they're not fashionable," Wu said.

"But this phenomenon is indeed worthy of our high attention."

Recent weeks have seen shares in Chinese tech titans surge.

Last month, long-shunned Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma was seen meeting President Xi Jinping at a business symposium -- signalling a more welcoming stance from Beijing towards its domestic tech sector.

Alibaba's shares rose more than eight percent during Thursday trading in Hong Kong after it unveiled an AI model with a performance it said was "comparable" to DeepSeek.

Investors are watching for announcements this week from Beijing -- where officials are convening for a key annual political event known as the "Two Sessions" -- on further government support to boost innovation and spending.

Wu's comments came during a press conference on China's economy, which has struggled to fully recover from the pandemic.

Authorities are banking on advanced technology as a lifeline to reach official growth targets this year as heightened trade winds batter the export-dependent nation.

K.Hassan--SF-PST