Chinese tech startup DeepSeek released a model of its AI service that seemingly is on-par with U.S.-based competitors like ChatGPT, but required far-less computing power.

Silicon Valley and Washington leaders said the app shows China can challenge the U.S. The Nasdaq lost 3 percent and chipmaker Nvidia shed $589 billion in market capitalization.

A major disruption hit the artificial intelligence sector this week as DeepSeek, a China-based chatbot, unveiled its latest AI models—trained for just $6 million. That’s a fraction of the cost U.S. companies typically spend,