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Asian shares Friday were mixed, with Chinese technology stocks rising as most other Asian equities declined. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped nearly 0.44% in early trading to

Some AI researchers hailed DeepSeek’s R1 as a breakthrough on the same level as DeepMind’s AlphaZero, a 2017 model that became superhuman at the board games Chess and Go by purely playing against itself and improving, rather than observing any human games.

DeepSeek has launched an AI model that was reportedly developed with significantly less computational power than traditional methods. Shares of Nvidia are under pressure amid concerns that DeepSeek's methods may undermine demand for its high-performance GPUs.

Chinese investors are rushing into AI-related stocks, betting the artificial intelligence advance of home-grown startup DeepSeek will lead to a boom in the sector and give the initiative to China in an intensifying Sino-U.

The Hang Seng Tech Index, which tracks the 30 largest technology companies listed in the city, rose as much as 2.9% on Friday, reflecting a rise of more than 20% from its January low.

Beijing’s growing clout in the artificial intelligence space has sparked a wave of optimism toward Chinese tech shares, with a gauge approaching a technical bull market and brokers issuing upbeat calls.

The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 2.5% on Friday, with a total increase of more than 20% since January. It appears that DeepSeek’s hype has erased concerns of trade wars among Chinese investors, due to which China’s tech stocks in Hong Kong continue to surge.