It cannot have been a coincidence that China’s DeepSeek R1 was released on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration. America’s greatest technology leaders were lined behind him, from Elon Musk to new recruit Mark Zuckerberg.
China’s leadership must have known the maelstrom they were about to unleash. Within days, DeepSeek pricked US technological triumphalism, stunning the world and shifting the geopolitical technology power base.