China’s growing clout in the artificial intelligence space has sparked a wave of optimism toward the nation’s tech shares, with a gauge approaching a technical bull market and brokers issuing upbeat calls.

Asian shares Friday were mixed, with Chinese technology stocks rising as most other Asian equities declined.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped nearly 0.72% in afternoon trading to 38,787.02. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slid just 0.

Chinese investors are rushing into AI-related stocks, betting the artificial intelligence advance of home-grown startup DeepSeek will lead to a boom in the sector and give the initiative to China in an intensifying Sino-U.

Chinese startup DeepSeek’s app has climbed to the top of the iPhone charts as its newest AI assistant showed competitive performance against rivals like OpenAI and Meta.

Tech stocks falling after small Chinese lab, DeepSeek, develops new AI model that challenges ChatGPT and Tesla; what to know.

Silicon Valley and Washington leaders said the app shows China can challenge the U.S. The Nasdaq lost 3 percent and chipmaker Nvidia shed $589 billion in market capitalization.