Stock market turmoil sheds stark light on the opaque AI economy

A lithography machine at ASML in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. The Chinese have broken the Dutch company’s hold over deep-ultraviolet lithography, a technique essential to the computer chip supply chain. Photograph: Bart van Overbeeke Fotografie/AS/Reuters

Even for the rollercoaster world of AI, last week was particularly volatile as investors scrambled to keep up with developments that threatened the dominance of the largest western chipmakers.

It began with a double whammy. On Monday, the Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT floated on the Shanghai stock market, soaring by 466% in value to 3.3tn yuan (£365bn).