The sudden emergence of DeepSeek, a low-cost Chinese artificial intelligence disruptor, onto the world stage this week has sent shockwaves though the fast-growing AI investment landscape, triggering a trillion-dollar sell-off in former sector darling Nvidia in the process.

Despite the huge market reaction, however, Australia’s top fund managers remain divided on whether the advent of DeepSeek’s latest open-source platform – named R1 – will prove a turning point in the global race to develop AI, or simply a buying opportunity given the oversized market reaction.