Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) app DeepSeek don overtake ChatGPT plus oda rivals to become di top-rated free application on Apple App Store for US, UK and China.

Di app popularity don grow since dem launch am for January, e dey challenge di world system belief wey say America na di untouchable leader of di AI industry.

E dey powered by di open-source DeepSeek-V3 model, and im researchers claim say dem develop am wit less dan $6m – di money less pass di billions oda rivals spend.

But odas for di AI space don argue dis claim.

Afta dem launch DeepSeek-R1 earlier dis month, di company bin boast of "performance wey dey di same level wit" one of ChatGPT maker OpenAI latest models – wen dem use am for work like maths, coding and natural language reasoning.

Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Donald Trump advisor Marc Andreessen describe DeepSeek-R1 as "AI' Sputnik moment", as e dey refer to di first artificial Earth satellite wey di Soviet Union launch for 1957.

Advanced chips dey power di training of AI models like ChatGPT and DeepSeek.

But since 2021, di US goment don widen dia restrictions on advanced chips dem dey sell to China.

In order to continue dia work without steady supplies of imported advanced chips, Chinese AI developers don share dia work wit each oda and dem experiment wit new approaches to di technology.

Dis don result in AI models wey require far less computing power pass bifor.

E also mean say dem cost less dan di amount pipo bin no tink say dey possible, wey get di potential to overturn di industry.

Shares in AI-related companies wey dey based for di US, like Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta bin dey down on Monday morning - and di development knock European share prices.

ASML, di Dutch chip equipment maker, bin see dia share price fall down by more dan 10% while shares in Siemens Energy, wey make hardware relate to AI, fall by 21%.

"Dis idea of a low cost Chinese version no necessarily dey for forefront, so e take di market a little bit by surprise," Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst for City Index tok.

Singapore-based technology equity advisor Vey-Sern Ling tell BBC say e fit "potentially spoil di investment case for di entire AI supply chain".

But Wall Street banking giant Citi caution say while DeepSeek fit challenge di dominant positions of American companies like OpenAI, issues wey Chinese firms face fit stop dia development.

"We estimate say in a more restrictive environment, US access to more advanced chips na advantage," dia analysts tok for one report.

Last week, one consortium of US tech firms and foreign investors announce The Stargate Project, one company wey wan put $500bn into AI infrastructure for Texas.

Liang Wenfeng start di company for 2023 for Hangzhou, one city for southeastern China.

Di 40-year-old, wey be information and electronic engineering graduate, also establish di hedge fund wey support di DeepSeek.

Reports say e build one store of Nvida A100 chips, wey dey banned now from export to China. Experts believe say dis collection - wey some estimate put at 50,000 - lead am to launch DeepSeek, by pairing dis chips wit cheaper, lower-end ones wey still dey available to import.

Dem recently see Oga Liang for one meeting between industry experts and di Chinese premier Li Qiang.

For one July 2024 interview wit The China Academy, Oga Liang say im bin dey surprised by di reaction to di previous version of im AI model.

"We no expect di mata of pricing to be sensitive issue," e tok.

"We simply dey follow our own pace, calculating costs, and setting prices accordingly."