China’s artificial intelligence challenger DeepSeek has punctured expectations of a boom in electricity demand from the world’s energy-hungry data centres as assumptions about the sophistication of the AI era are tested by the Chinese start-up’s arrival.

Investors are concerned that more energy-efficient deployment of AI, as demonstrated by DeepSeek’s claim of requiring fewer chips than Silicon Valley bots, could cut long-term demand for gas. US natural gas futures plunged almost 14 per cent this week, while some electricity suppliers suffered share price drops of more than 20 per cent on Wall Street on Monday. Those losses were partially retraced in Tuesday’s session.