U.S. stock futures plunged on Monday amid concerns that DeepSeek could undermine U.S. tech leadership

Odaily News U.S. stock index futures plunged in early Asian trading on Monday amid concerns that China's DeepSeek's artificial intelligence model could disrupt the tech industry. As of 10:12 a.m. Hong Kong time, S&P 500 futures fell 1% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.9%. The moves suggest that U.S. stocks extended losses from Friday's spot trading session, as U.S. stocks began to cool after rising earlier in the week after President Trump took office.
Hong Kong stocks rose on Monday, with the Hang Seng tech index up 2% ahead of this week’s Lunar New Year holiday. In Tokyo, shares of Advantest Corp., a major Nvidia supplier, fell 8.6%.
Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, head of consumer and internet at Aletheia Capital in Singapore, said the DeepSeek product “seriously undermines the argument that Silicon Valley’s massive capital and operating expense investments are the most appropriate way to respond to the AI trend. It casts doubt on the massive resources being invested in AI.”
U.S. futures fell in a big week for earnings from big tech companies like Apple and Microsoft. Profit growth is expected to slow, but valuations remain stretched, reigniting concerns about a sharp rise in the tech sector driven by artificial intelligence. The launch of DeepSeek has raised new questions, challenging the notion that China’s AI technology lags years behind the U.S. (Bloomberg)