Since the release of the domestically produced large model DeepSeek in 2025, the global market has sharpened its focus on artificial intelligence (AI), leading to a noticeable acceleration in the industry's iterative processes. Prominent companies around the world have openly shared their latest developments in the realm of AI, driven largely by the competitive landscape that DeepSeek has helped shape. According to data from Wind, on February 17, the Wind AI Concept Index saw an increase of 1.49% — a striking 37.37% cumulative rise since January 7.

Industry analysts suggest that DeepSeek is not just a catalyst for innovation within the global AI sector; it has also influenced the overarching dynamics of the market and bolstered confidence in domestic AI industries. The opportunities presented by DeepSeek, notably in AI applications, edge AI, and computational power, have given many investors and companies a reason to look optimistically toward the future.

The competition among large AI models has become increasingly fierce. DeepSeek’s emergence has disrupted former hierarchies within the AI market, encouraging more enterprises to engage in “open-source + free” AI initiatives. The global contest for dominance in AI modeling is intensifying. Recently, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced on the social platform X that the highly anticipated Grok 3 model would be released this coming Monday evening Pacific Time, highlighting a live demonstration during the unveiling. Musk claims Grok 3 will be “the smartest AI on Earth.”

This isn't the first time Grok's development has made headlines. In the previous year, Musk asserted that xAI’s next-generation model, Grok 3, would be trained on 100,000 H100 GPUs, originally expected to launch by the end of 2024. However, this target was missed. At the recent 12th World Government Summit held in Dubai, he indicated that internal testing suggests that Grok 3 has surpassed all publicly available models so far. The strength of its capabilities, he notes, sometimes evokes a sense of fear, as it can propose utterly unexpected yet highly relevant solutions.

In addition to xAI, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently announced through the same social platform that GPT-4.5, codename “Orion,” is set to launch in the coming weeks, with plans for GPT-5 to follow in a few months. This suite will incorporate OpenAI’s extensive technologies and will be utilized across ChatGPT and its API platform. Google has also made headlines with the official announcement that its latest AI model suite, Gemini 2.0, is now open for all users.

From an industry perspective, Yan Guicheng, a leading communications industry analyst with Citic Securities, emphasizes that the long-term outlook for AI remains bright as it continues to represent a significant trajectory within the tech sector. Stakeholders are encouraged to maintain their vigilance.

DeepSeek is not only making waves in terms of technology but is actively expanding its ecosystem. Recently, several major enterprises and local governments have begun to integrate DeepSeek into their operations, implementing localized deployments. Notably, WeChat has entered a gray testing phase that incorporates DeepSeek. Selected users will see an "AI Search" option at the top of their chat interface, granting them access to the full capabilities of the DeepSeek-R1 model and enriching their search experiences across platforms.

Tencent has stated that this integration of DeepSeek into WeChat’s AI search functionality amalgamates sources from WeChat official accounts, video accounts, and beyond, while also supporting internet-based searches. This aims to provide users with a more comprehensive, real-time, and accurate array of responses. Currently, this feature is in the testing stage, with ongoing optimization based on user feedback.

The “Happiness Futian” official microblog recently announced the launch of an AI digital employee developed on the DeepSeek platform. This initiative saw the rollout of the administrative model version 2.0 in Shenzhen’s Futian District, which combines general capabilities from DeepSeek with customized, intelligent agents tailored to specific operational workflows across various departments, initially catering to 240 different business scenarios.

Recently, major cloud platforms like Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, and JD.com have announced connections to the DeepSeek model, with a number of brokerages, banks, and public investment funds signaling their integration as well. Fang Wenqian, a computer industry analyst at Shanxi Securities, believes that the commercial opportunities following WeChat’s integration of DeepSeek will continue to expand. As AI democratization progresses, applications in more specialized fields are likely to accelerate their emergence.

The investment scene centered on AI applications has garnered increased attention as these large models evolve rapidly. Yue Zheng, a media and internet industry analyst with China Galaxy Securities, argues that the partnership between major corporations and DeepSeek reflects a model that fuses “high-traffic entry points + advanced models,” thereby reducing the costs associated with adopting cutting-edge AI technologies. This trend is expected to notably enhance AI penetration in the market. Moreover, the influence of dominating players in software innovation, hardware requirements, and numerous additional aspects could initiate a chain reaction that propels the AI industry forward.

Liu Xi, the chief computer industry analyst at Guohai Securities, echoes support for the opportunities presented by DeepSeek in the domestic AI landscape, particularly within AI applications, edge AI, and computational requirements. As companies benefit from the significant enhancements in capabilities that DeepSeek offers, dwindling prices for upstream large model APIs could hasten the commercial maturation of application manufacturers. The emergence of DeepSeek has substantially boosted the capacities of smaller edge models, which will drive AI terminal capabilities. In terms of computational power, the optimization of reasoning costs related to DeepSeek’s large model is anticipated to catalyze the philanthropy of AI applications and refine business models downstream, pushing computational power into a long growth cycle driven by end-user demand.

Finally, He Chen, the chief analyst for the computer sector at Caixin Securities, notes that the extraordinarily low API pricing for DeepSeek R1, combined with its high-performance distilled models and a fully open-source strategy, will significantly lower the barriers and costs associated with AI development. This change will enhance the bargaining power of downstream AI application hardware manufacturers and is poised to facilitate the closing of business model loops, thereby promoting ecological prosperity. The moment for an explosion in AI applications seems ripe, with expectations of mutual flourishing between AI applications and computational demands ahead.