INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Analysts gasped when DeepSeek revealed a modest $5.6 million investment and only two months of training
breakthroughs rather than rely on massive GPU clusters
When Chinese labs manage to train top-tier models on limited chips, that threatens the core assumption that scale always wins.Anthropic,
which built Claude 3.5, also rides an intense wave of funding
Its valuation hinges on the belief that intricate reasoning models and heavy capital will keep it ahead
Shake-Up Topples Billion-Dollar Assumptions
(Photo Internet reproduction)Berkeley researchers then created a reasoning model for a fraction of these costs, suggesting that resource
efficiency matters more than big budgets
Tech investors wonder if valuations for companies like Anthropic can remain high if open-source solutions close gaps so quickly.Meta
presents a different case
It already showed a willingness to open-source its Llama family
That choice might insulate the company from some cost-driven shocks
Developers might pivot toward Chinese innovations if they arrive first with less overhead
Observers question whether those figures reflect real moats, or whether they rest on hype
Many see that pivot as a sign of bigger battles ahead.Chamath Palihapitiya labels model building a money trap
He notes that spending billions on data processing may not secure a future payoff if smaller teams match the results for a fraction of the
xAI, Anthropic, and Meta all court large valuations, but the open-source explosion challenges their assumptions.Skeptics worry about
code fosters transparency and personal responsibility, allowing developers to spot or modify unwanted limits.This tension expands as
American export controls did not cripple Chinese labs, but pushed them to invent more efficient training systems.Investors now wonder if xAI
Meta faces a separate challenge of holding developers who crave fast, flexible tools.These choices will shape which companies remain on top
AI watchers note that raw capital no longer guarantees success, and the entire sector could shift from a handful of giants to a diverse
Companies staking their worth on exclusive large models must adapt or risk irrelevance.This competition reflects a deeper principle that
free markets, open ideas, and self-reliance drive true innovation
With each breakthrough, the gap between well-funded incumbents and unknown newcomers narrows
Shake-Up Topples Billion-Dollar Assumptions
