DeepSeek's progress is a clear sign of the growing influence of Chinese companies in the AI sector, according to a spokesperson for China's parliament. Lou Qinjian, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, praised the achievements of DeepSeek's young team, describing their work as 'commendable'.

He highlighted the company's open-source approach and its efforts to spread AI technology globally, contributing 'Chinese wisdom' to the world.

The AI startup has been widely celebrated in China, particularly for rolling out AI models that offer a significantly lower cost than those developed by US rivals like OpenAI.

While some countries, including South Korea and Italy, have removed DeepSeek's chatbot from their app stores over privacy concerns, it has been embraced within China, where local governments and tech firms are integrating it into their systems.

Based in Hangzhou, DeepSeek is rapidly advancing its next-generation model, set to succeed its R1 release from January, as it continues to make waves in the global tech sector.