Why did DeepSeek have to stop signups; Did the US carry out a cyber attack?

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, has restricted its chatbot’s new user sign-ups to people only possessing phone numbers originating from China. This decision follows serious cyber attacks on its online services. DeepSeek’s flagship AI model, the DeepSeek-R1, has received unprecedented global attention but caused widespread outages which have resulted in the surge. 

DeepSeek's chatbot now holds the record for the most downloaded free application on the Apple App Store, overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT in download numbers for a short period. However, during this time, the company faced massive disruption to its systems and severe outages to its web chat and API services. 

Sign-ups are temporarily being restricted to only users who possess (+86) phone numbers from China. "Due to large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek's services, we are temporarily limiting registrations to ensure continued service. Existing users can log in as usual," DeepSeek wrote on its site's homepage.

The company was founded by hedge fund manager Liang Wenfeng in 2023. In fact, DeepSeek has rapidly emerged as a serious competitor in the AI ​​race. Its latest model, the DeepSeek-R1, released last week, has drawn attention for its advanced capabilities in tasks such as math, coding, and logic. DeepSeek has given OpenAI, Google, and a host of Silicon Valley companies sleepless nights. The launch of DeepSeek has not only intensified competition in the generative AI space but has also impacted the stock market.

Shares of Nvidia, a major supplier of AI chips, fell more than 14 percent on Monday, losing more than $500 billion in market value. Other tech companies in the US and Europe also saw declines as investors reacted to DeepSeek's low-cost approach to AI.