By bno - Taipei Bureau DeepSeek, the Chinese AI start-up, has generated significant attention since its launch of the R1 chatbot in January. Despite a claimed smaller budget than industry giants, the company asserts that its AI can rival those from the US at a fraction of the cost.

Governments across Asia are cracking down on DeepSeek, amid growing concerns that the Chinese AI chatbot could compromise national security. South Korea is the latest to block DeepSeek's access to various governmental departments.

DeepSeek emerged in January, surprising many in the technology industry with its capabilities, which reportedly come close to rivals but at a far lower cost.

DeepSeek shot to the top of the app-store charts—and triggered a brutal stock market selloff—last week. But the Chinese artificial-intelligence chatbot could soon face the same fate as TikTok. Lawmakers are planning to introduce a bill Thursday that would block the app from government-owned devices,