Investing.com-- Leading Chinese internet stocks such as Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700), Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding Ltd (HK:9988), and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) Inc (HK:9888) experienced notable gains, driven by speculation surrounding advancements from AI startup DeepSeek.
DeepSeek's recent release of its open-source reasoning model, DeepSeek-R1, has been recognized for rivaling OpenAI's ChatGPT in several performance benchmarks.
This achievement is particularly noteworthy given the company's use of less advanced chips, highlighting the challenges of U.S. export curbs in hindering China's AI progress.
It also gained attention for achieving comparable performance to established AI systems like OpenAI’s GPT models and Meta’s Llama, while operating at a fraction of their costs.
Investors are optimistic that these developments will bolster the AI capabilities of major Chinese tech firms.
The anticipation is that companies like Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu will integrate or collaborate with innovative AI solutions from startups like DeepSeek, enhancing their competitive edge in the global market.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent rose 1.3% to HK$395.60, while Alibaba stock jumped 3.5% to HK$87.70 as of 04:00 GMT on Monday.
Baidu shares were 4.2% higher at HK$84.95, while Meituan (HK:3690) stock rose 1.5%.
China's growing prowess in the AI field has influenced positive investor sentiment toward major Chinese internet companies.