Deepseek Destroys American AI | How China Is Winning The Tech War | Where Is India? | Akash Banerjee
People still shiver remembering the 2000s dot-com bubble in America. The situation of technology industry had changed that year. Then comes the 2008 financial crisis, where hundreds of companies shut down and lakhs of jobs are lost. But all that is now a child's play if you look at the tech storm of 2025 US tech stocks had to bear a loss of $1 trillion in just one day Nvidia, The tech king of America, the company that makes AI chips, lost $600 billion in hours. No other company has suffered so much in the history of America To make sense of 600 billion, the valuation of Reliance Industries is estimated to be $200 billion And moreover, the culprits of this bloodshed are a small Chinese company and some new engineers who have released the DeepSeek R1 model.
A model of such unique and efficient artificial intelligence that has brought a new turn in the world of AI in a few days. And has destroyed the Silicon Valley in America. What is this deepseek? but the problem is for the entire world as China made it clear that they want to become world leader in science, technology and trade China is trying to equalize the US in every department And as deepseek has shown, in some places has gone beyond the US in cutting edge technology In America, this danger is already being recognized and China is being tried to stop. America is trying to keep its lead and stop China. But in India, if there is any action of China in India, we become silent.
In the government, in the Godi media, in the drawing room, the uncles, all go into a strange silence. Chinese soldiers enter the Galwan, silence. At the same time, world's largest dam is decided to be built on our border, silence. We import records breaking goods worth $120 billion from them in 2024, silence And now, silence on this new AI revolution as well. and the revolution. On the contrary, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw is tweeting about the Coldplay concert. Look, we organise such a good concert.
is this the job of a central minister? And the Fakiri does not stop here In the ministerial and parliament, where do you get time from mutton, Muslim, Masjid Mangalsutra, fish etc. And in IITs, this debate is going on that should non-veg food is allowed in the mess IITs directors are trying to prove the benefits of cow urine. Yes, it is beneficial. I will also bathe in cow urine. Just give me a guarantee that we can defeat China in any way.
Has India lost relevance in the US-China technology war? China, which we used to mock for cheap unreliable products, has become so much better than us? It is equal to the US. How did a restrictive controlled communist government gain such expertise in cutting edge technology like AI? And are we now in danger of this hatred, us vs them, that we will rise above politics and work for the country? Especially when economic crisis, unemployment and inflation are knocking at our door. Or we will be happy thinking that Abdul is still tight. And we will be happy to see that in Pakistan's Gaddafi Stadium, there are no seats for cricket match yet. What losers! China releases a product on 22nd January that shocks Silicon Valley's tech elite. It changes the rules of the global AI market.
DeepSeek is a product of a small upcoming Chinese tech company. It has not been two years since the company's founding. It is their AI model. This AI model is a contrast to the latest model of OpenAI and Meta. on many parameters is better than them but this is a trailer DeepSeek has trained its latest R1 model in a budget of just 5.6 million dollars It takes a lot of effort to train a model. So much information. Most of the analysts estimate that this is 100 times less than the training costs of US tech giants. For regular users, DeepSeek's R1 model is free to use for regular users.
This means it will be adopted very soon. Premium plans for OpenAI ChatGPT require a lot of money. Big token computing, i.e. big firms will use it for corporate use. In that case, DeepSeek R1 is 30 times cheaper than ChatGPT. Remember, this is the same China where the US has imposed computing chip export restrictions for years so that it can't compete with the AI race anywhere. But here, a small Chinese company used old outdated chips to defeat the US tech giants.
And it's not like they have copied some open AI or meta and made a cheap version of AI. They have reimagined AI. Let me explain in 2 minutes. Traditional AI, if it writes a number, it writes it up to 32 decimal places for accuracy. DeepSeek said that if we use only 8 decimal points, it will still be accurate, but 75% memory consumption will be reduced. Normal AI reads like a first grader, DeepSeek tries to read the whole phrase at once. It is not 100% but 90% accurate.
But when you process billions of words, it gives good results. Traditional model has 1.8 trillion parameters. Eye and track on everything DeepSeek says that we have only 671 billion parameters and only 37 billion parameters will be active at a time. The rest can be summoned. If a task is required, we can activate it. The net result is that the overall requirement of hardware is very low.
Not specialized AI chips, you can run this AI software on a gaming PC. It also saves a lot of power. You don't need a factory to run this computer. And you don't need expensive chips. That's why what happened with Nvidia shares happened The biggest hit to American AI companies is that it is open source.
Open source means that China has not hidden this algorithm. This is not a Chinese Communist Party's propaganda. You can open it, weigh it, change parameters and experiment. People are doing this all over the world. They say that DeepSeek works better than big AI software. And that too without expensive hardware or power requirement. The question is, where does India come in this AI race? Have we already lost? The sad thing is that Rajan Anandan from Peak XV asked the same question to Sam Altman 2 years ago.
Can India work on a cheap, foundational AI model? Did you see Sam Altman's pride... it has been demolished because deepseek has broken the formula of openAI to run AI, big investments, big power source, big chips are not required Sam Altman and openAI wanted to charge people to use AI, their valuation was that's why high The sad thing is that Rajan was proved right... In less than 6 million dollars, they created a better foundational model than Open AI. The problem is that this didn't happen in India. But in China And why I am saying that the sad thing happened in China, because there was a time when we used to give a straight answer to America.
In 1987, the Indian government told America to give us its Cray XMP supercomputer for weather prediction America said, go away from here, we will not give you the Cray XMP supercomputer because you will use it for military use you will make a nuclear bomb, that's why we will not give it. India did not give up govt set up a taskforce and PARAM supercomputer was developed by Center for Development of Advanced Computing. US tried its method, arm twist Russia to force them into not giving cryogenic technology to India which our ISRO wanted for GSLV project because it is used in ICBM rockets and nuclear rockets.
We did not give up again. We put in a lot of time and effort to develop cryogenic engine technology, which is still available in very few countries And we launched our GSLV rocket. But today, I don't know why, we have given up. If you ask us in the world of AI, we have not even tried for foundational models Like we had given up earlier, that they have done it with open AI, we won't do anything. And this is where China took the lead But the problem is that we are not just talking about AI today You take the space station, reusable rockets, semiconductors, fighter aircrafts, new energy technology, even quantum computing. There is a fierce battle going on everywhere between the USA and China. Superpower versus upcoming superpower. Who will lead the 21st century? Fight is going on and India is not visible
A geopolitical chess is going on. China is trying to move ahead fast. America is trying to checkmate it. And India? India, we are busy in our politics. Because we don't see a tech war. The world is planning the future 50 years ahead. We are busy in the excavation of 500 years ago Let's see some samples. China becomes independent in 1948. Primary education focuses on health care. Economy becomes liberalized in 1978. A well-educated workforce and young population attract foreign companies Chinese government invested profit in education infrastructure This increases productivity and attracts more companies.
China's per capita income was almost equal to that of India's in 1990 Now China is 5 times richer than India in terms of average income. avg Chinese is 5 times richer China is the 2nd largest economy in the world. It has 30% of global manufacturing. Combine number 2, 3, 4, 5 countries they cannot meet China 10 times ahead than India in total manufacturing Joe Biden said in 2012 that China's communist system will never be innovative. because freethinking free thought are not encouraged belief that they will always be number one in the field of technology and innovation And most people believe this. But this is something that President Xi took personally In 2015, Xi launched the Made in China 2025 program.
The aim was that China will not only manufacture low value products, but will also make cutting edge technology. In fact, before that, in 2014, Modi launched the Make in India program to make India a global manufacturing hub. Let's see what China did in the last 10 years. In the field of research and development China invested heavily in R&D. In 2023, China's R&D spent was $723 billion.
going towards a trillion in R&D spending. This is almost equivalent to the US R&D spending and is 10 times more than India This was possible due to China's economic power. To weaken this economy, Trump used the slogan of Make America Great Again to tariff Chinese goods worth $450 billion. Biden also continued this to control China. In return, China diversified its trade. In the last 10 years, it has doubled its trade with ASEAN countries.
Through its Belt and Road Initiative, China has invested $1 trillion in 150 countries. It has grown diplomatic and trade relations with the countries of the Global South. Thanks to such diversification, managed the economy of Communist China. It has also invested in the tech race. The first aspect of the race was renewable energy. Just imagine how thoughtful.. China understood that if the US fights with them, it will block oil shipments from the sea route and the Chinese economy will be destroyed when it does not have energy supply.
That is why green energy was focused on so that China can become self-sufficient. If you look at the solar cell, 80% of the world's solar cell production is in China. In China, solar modules are produced at a cost of 15 cents per watt. 20% less than US The Modi government has also focused on the solar sector. But we are not even close to China in terms of production capacity. And China is many times more cost efficient.
If we talk about electric vehicles, in 2024, 60% of global EV sales were in China 11 million EV cars were sold in China. In total, in car sales, 50% of EV sales are in China. In India, that number is only 2%. In 2020, the US said that it will not sell any semiconductors to China's Huawei.
Then in 2022, Biden almost banned US-China computing chip export By 2024, the total computing chip ban was imposed. And in the world, if any company's computing chips use American technology, they cannot sell chips to Chinese companies Just imagine the strict restrictions. Now, it has had an impact. China has not yet built its own semiconductor manufacturing hub. But even in this crisis, DeepSeek has used old computers and imported chips to invent a new AI technology. China has recently released the Tianyan 504, one of the most powerful quantum computers in the world.
US stopped sending Chinese astronauts to ISS. China has launched its own space station in 2021. Three astronauts' permanent crew is also there. A 21st century race to the moon is also going on. China says that by 2030, it will send an astronaut to the moon
The USA has also launched its Artemis program to take astronauts back to the moon. Last year, a Chinese company called Landspace did a model testing of its reusable rockets. Engine re-ignition, precise landing, like many other areas, the testing was successful. This company, now the Chinese government is also funding it. Perhaps, in 2025, SpaceX will get competition By the way, Musk is going to get a lot of clash with China. A few days ago, China's Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company announced that they have successfully obtained 100 GB data per second, satellite to ground transmission data transfer. This is the world's fastest transfer speed between space and earth
They left behind the Musk's Starlink, not just 1x or 2x, 10 x faster There is a race going on in military 26 Dec, 2024 - 6th Gen fighter was seen in China US 6th gen is not seen in public India is stuck on 4th generation. wait for 5th gen might go on for 10 yrs 40 fighters ordered by Indian air force from HAL, have not been delivered yet. HAL says some parts from US have to be delivered but they have not.
China has made its supply chain self-sufficient. Not depend on US for everything There are many other fields like hypersonic missiles, naval technology, cyber warfare, drone technology. If we start talking about all these fields, we will spend the whole night. But I will mention one last field where a world record was set a few weeks ago. Nuclear fusion, the process by which sun produces energy. All nuclear reactors are run by nuclear fission, but the problem is that it produces a lot of radioactive waste. Theoretically, it is possible to make fusion reactors and a lot less radioactive waste is produced.
But it is very difficult to make because it requires high temperatures But on December 30, 2024, in China's East Reactor, they broke a record. They kept plasma confinement for more than 1000 seconds They maintained a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius. 100 million degrees Celsius. Temperature of sun crucial step towards nuclear fusion technology which can produce mass energy on zero emission The country which has mastered this technology will become a world leader in energy sector. China has recently announced a trillion dollar trade surplus.
China has earned a trillion dollars by buying and selling goods to the world. India has contributed 100 billion dollars to China. We are going to be the third largest economy after US and China. But we are far behind in the real race To move forward in this race, we need to change our thinking We don't have Google, OpenAI or DeepSeek. But we do this... We tell the CEOs of American tech companies Indians and forward. say Indians are ruling America. But none of them are Indian citizens. They have left their citizenship. The problem is not about money. People like TCS, Infosys, Ambani have started AI projects
And for these companies, it is not a big deal to invest 50-60 million dollars. But no one had vision, risk-taking ability or talent. Some government schemes were there. But we are centuries behind the US and China We have lost our scientific thinking. We have a lot of talent but it wants to work in America. We celebrate this brain drain.
China, Taiwan, Germany and other countries bring semiconductor scientists back in attractive packages and try to attract them to their countries. China is now trying to stop its talent from going to other countries. The Chinese workers working in India's Foxconn factory were told by the Chinese government, to come back And they are also delaying the necessary equipment. Whether the US gives no goods to China or China gives no goods to India, the game is simple. No one is related to anyone in the international world order. Everyone is looking at their own.
80% of the goals of Made in China 2025 have been achieved. After this success, now, Xi is focusing on its Vision 2035. Making megacities, bringing AI technology to world standards. That means, for the next 10-20 years, vision is there On the basis of one plan's success, a new plan The Modi government's Make in India has not achieved a single target. The target of 12-14% of industry growth is fluctuating around 4%.
10 crore manufacturing jobs were to be created but jobs are decreasing. Look at the consumption capacity, savings, credit history in the FDI sector. Credit history ... GDP growth you know But we are still showing people the dream of a developed India in 2047. We don't know what the plan is. China plus one policy was going to benefit us. It did. It benefited Vietnam, Thailand, but not us. Why is that? What do we learn here? The biggest lesson is that we need to focus on our fundamentals.
AI, fighter jets, space station, nuclear fission, all these sounds good, but the basic reality is that we need to focus on education, healthcare, infrastructure If we don't educate in primary schools, we will only dream of leadership in any industry But you know that education is a curse word now. If you talk about progress, about world, you will be negative We celebrate hooliganism and slander. India's own data shows that the school enrollment in 2023-2024 has decreased by 1 crore. Ministry of Education says that they have cleaned up the data. So, it is clear that the school enrollment has decreased by 1 crore You can decide the truth. But in 2024, the government has reduced the budgetary allocation of the University Grants Commission,
which provides education and research funding to the university in the country, by 61%. So, how much focus is the government on research and academics? You can understand it yourself. US-China race is getting faster. In the coming 70 years, who will lead
We are here to blame Nehru and Babar. Politicians don't seem to care about education. They just want us to do us versus them, keep digging. If it continues... I guarantee you that in a few years, China will go 500 years ahead and we will be busy digging the same.
2025-01-31 17:53
