Recently, there have been rumors in the market $Alibaba (BABA.US)$ / $BABA-W (09988.HK)$ that a plan is underway to invest 1 billion dollars at a valuation of 10 billion dollars, subscribing to 10% equity of AI company DeepSeek, with both teams communicating specific execution details. This news once attracted attention in the Capital Markets, causing Alibaba's stock price in Pre-Market Trading to surge temporarily, with an increase exceeding 6% at one point. Other Chinese Assets also saw significant gains.

However, Alibaba Group Vice President Yan Qiao quickly responded in his social circle, denying the rumors. He stated:

"As a fellow company from Hangzhou, China, we applaud DeepSeek, but the information circulating about Alibaba investing in DeepSeek is false news."

Despite the official denial of the investment plan, DeepSeek, as a rapidly rising AI company, has clearly attracted the attention of many giants, including Alibaba, due to its technological strength and market potential. This rumor also reflects the high expectations from the Capital Markets for DeepSeek.

DeepSeek suddenly gained popularity mainly due to its technological breakthroughs and market performance. As a company focused on AI technology research and development, DeepSeek recently launched multiple innovative applications, particularly breakthroughs in natural language processing and deep learning, making it a focal point in the Industry.

During the Chinese New Year period, the number of users for DeepSeek surged, with its AI assistant functions widely applied in various scenarios, including smart customer service, content generation, and data analysis. In addition, DeepSeek has also collaborated with several well-known companies, such as DingTalk AI Assistant integrating DeepSeek, supporting deep thinking capabilities, further enhancing its market influence.

DeepSeek's success lies not only in technological innovation but also in its precise grasp of the needs of the China market. Compared to foreign AI giants, DeepSeek places a greater emphasis on localized applications, launching AI solutions "more suitable for Chinese babies," earning widespread user praise.

Yesterday, it was reported that researchers from Stanford University and the University of Washington, including Fei-Fei Li, successfully trained an AI reasoning model named s1 with less than $50 in Cloud Computing costs, which is said to be comparable to cutting-edge reasoning models like OpenAI's O1 and DeepSeek's R1. However, after investigation, it was found that the model was not trained from scratch, and its base model is actually Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen). This news alleviated some market doubts about DeepSeek.

The rise of DeepSeek has also had a profound impact on the Capital Markets. Its sudden popularity triggered a reevaluation of the AI Sector by investors. During the Spring Festival period, DeepSeek's download volume and user activity surged, directly driving up the stock prices of related Concepts. For example, domestic computing power companies were favored by capital for supporting DeepSeek.

Furthermore, DeepSeek's success has exposed a demand gap in the Capital Markets for Technology Insurance. With the rapid development of AI technology, risks related to intellectual property and Cybersecurity have become focal points. However, there are nearly no insurance products targeting cutting-edge technology fields like AI in the domestic market, leading to a prominent mismatch between supply and demand. Experts suggest improving the policy support system to promote the development of Technology Insurance to address the risks that high-tech companies like DeepSeek may face.

DeepSeek's rise has posed a challenge to traditional technology giants. Its technological breakthroughs and market performance not only attracted the attention of the Capital Markets but also prompted giants, including Alibaba and Tencent, to rethink their own AI Global Strategy. DeepSeek's success proves that the competition in the AI field is no longer limited to computing power and data but places greater emphasis on technological innovation and market demand.

编辑/jayden