Chinese company DeepSeek is rapidly gaining ground in the artificial intelligence market, becoming the second most popular chatbot in the world. In just a week, the platform’s traffic grew by 614%, surpassing Gemini and Character AI. According to traffic monitoring service Similarweb, the number of visitors reached 49 million daily.
This surge is particularly impressive given previous figures. A month ago, the platform had only about 300,000 visits per day, but by late January, its audience had soared to 33.4 million, according to PCMag. This growth not only shook the tech industry but also caused concern among investors, contributing to a decline in American tech stock prices. Nvidia shares were particularly affected, dropping by 17.8%. Despite DeepSeek’s success, it still lags behind ChatGPT, which maintains over 130 million visits per day.
The Open V3 Model and Its Market Impact
Experts attribute DeepSeek’s success to the release of the open V3 model, which has attracted global attention from developers and companies. The training of V3 cost $5.5 million—significantly less than similar U.S. models—while offering capabilities comparable to ChatGPT. However, DeepSeek stands out by allowing users to download and run the model on local servers, making it an appealing option for organizations seeking AI solutions without relying on cloud services.
Despite its rapid rise, DeepSeek has yet to surpass the Microsoft Bing search engine, which integrates the Copilot AI assistant powered by OpenAI. However, Similarweb data highlights DeepSeek’s growing presence in the U.S. market, where it peaked at 4.9 million daily visits on January 28 before stabilizing at 2.4 million—an 813.3% increase from the previous week.
Future Challenges and Competition
While DeepSeek continues to grow, its future remains uncertain due to increasing competition, notes NIXSOLUTIONS. OpenAI recently introduced the Deep Research feature, which compiles detailed reports from hundreds of sources, potentially strengthening its market position. Additionally, DeepSeek faces criticism regarding privacy and censorship policies, which could impact user trust.
Nevertheless, DeepSeek remains one of the most promising players in the AI industry, and its market trajectory will be closely watched. We’ll keep you updated on further developments as the competition evolves.