California tech investors have usually kept their involvement in politics low key, generally supporting centrist politicians who don't get in the way of their innovations and business plans.
But the AI revolution, and the potential ability of China to pose a direct threat to US dominance, has unnerved tech investors, who are now calling on the Donald Trump-led US government to help them take the battle to their Chinese rivals.
"It's a huge geopolitical competition, and China's running at it super hard," warned Facebook titan Mark Zuckerberg on the Joe Rogan podcast.
He noted that DeepSeek is "a very advanced model" and that it censors historical events like Tiananmen Square, arguing that "we should want the American model to win."
Google, though not specifically mentioning DeepSeek, on Wednesday said the United States must take urgent action to maintain its narrow lead in artificial intelligence technology or risk losing its strategic advantage.
"America holds the lead in the AI race -- but our advantage may not last," it warned, calling for government help in AI chip production, streamlining regulations and beefing up cybersecurity against national adversaries.
The emergence of DeepSeek's lower cost breakthrough particularly threatens US-based AI leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic, which have invested billions in developing leading AI models.
OpenAI raised alarms Tuesday about Chinese companies attempting to copy their advanced AI models through distillation techniques, announcing plans to deepen collaboration with US authorities.
OpenAI investor Josh Kushner criticized so-called "pro-America technologists" who praise what he claims is Chinese AI built with misappropriated US technology.
Palmer Luckey, a Trump-supporting tech entrepreneur, suggested DeepSeek's success was being amplified to undermine Trump's policies.
- 'Fall behind' -
Despite US government efforts to maintain AI supremacy through export controls on advanced chips, DeepSeek has found ways to achieve comparable results using authorized, less sophisticated Nvidia semiconductors.
The app's popularity has soared, topping Apple's download charts, with US companies already incorporating its programming interface into their services.
Perplexity, an AI-assisted search engine startup, has begun using the technology while claiming that it keeps user data within the US.
The tech community can count on Washington, where concern about China has achieved rare bipartisan consensus.
Last year, Republicans and Democrats passed a law ordering the divestment of TikTok, a subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance.
"If America falls behind China on AI, we will fall behind everywhere: economically, militarily, scientifically, educationally, everywhere," the US Senate's top Democrat Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
"China's innovation with DeepSeek is jarring, but it's nothing compared to what will happen if China beats the US on the ultimate goal of AGI, artificial general intelligence. We cannot, we must not allow that to happen."
Representative Mark Green, a senior Republican said "let's set the record straight -- DeepSeek R1 is another digital arm of the Chinese Communist Party."
However, some argue this aggressive approach may backfire, given Silicon Valley's reliance on Chinese talent.
Nvidia researcher Zhiding Yu highlighted this concern on X, noting how a Chinese intern from his team joined DeepSeek in 2023.
"If we keep cooking up geo-political agendas and creating hostile opinions to Chinese researchers, we will shoot ourselves in the foot and lose even more competitiveness."
juj-arp/bgs
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