Experts believe Elon Musk’s net worth took a big hi (Image: Getty)
Elon Musk is understood to have “lost £70billion” within a matter of days – and he isn’t alone in suffering big blows to his fortune. , the world’s richest man, along with fellow billionaires , Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg are said to have been hit badly by market instability in recent weeks. They are understood to have lost around almost £100billion, reports the Economic Times.
January was understood to be a vastly profitable month for the world’s richest, as their income swelled by around £246billion. However, it is thought the rise of DeepSeek AI has brought market instability for the tech industry. The Chinese AI has prompted a mass sell-off of artificial intelligence-related stock, reports theFortune magazine. This has had an impact across Silicon Valley.
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Elon Musk became the wealthiest man in 2021 (Image: Getty)
DeepSeek was reportedly built at a fraction of the cost of its rivals. The firm claims it trained its DeepSeek-V3 model for just £4.7 million – although this has been disputed by others working in AI.
The researchers claimed it was trained using open source code – which is available for use online by anyone – as well as existing technologies. Its release was described as a Sputnik moment – referring to the Space race between the US and .
Market analyst Fiona Cincotta : “”This idea of a low-cost Chinese version hasn’t necessarily been at the forefront, so it’s taken the market a little bit by surprise.
“So, if you suddenly get this low-cost AI model, then that’s going to raise concerns over the profits of rivals, particularly given the amount that they’ve already invested in more expensive AI infrastructure.”
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DeepSeek AI is said to have thrown the market into turmoil (Image: Getty)
DeepSeek’s chatbot launched as tech companies rallied together to pledge hundreds of billions of dollars to AI infrastructure in the United States, . And it is thought its expansion could bring even more market instability.
The Economic Times reports: “With DeepSeek’s continued expansion and the AI industry undergoing rapid shifts, financial analysts predict that more volatility could be ahead for billionaires who have built their empires on technology stocks.”
According to Forbes, Musk has lost 2.5 percent of his net worth this year. But the SpaceX founder remains the richest man in the world.
Musk, who is heading up ’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), made his first millions when the software company Zip2 was sold to Compaq in 1999. It was through Tesla he made the vast majority of his fortune however, surpassing Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest man in January 2021.