How Profit Beat Out Geopolitics in the AI Race

The year began with a bang, as China’s DeepSeek R1 large language model sent shock waves through Washington. Though experts still debate the extent to which it actually constituted a dreaded “Sputnik moment” for U.S. artificial intelligence (AI), DeepSeek’s debut nonetheless showcased capabilities rivaling those of U.S. leader OpenAI at a fraction of the cost and computing power. The release of the DeepSeek model also raised questions for U.S. policymakers about the effectiveness of Biden administration-era export controls on U.S. chips. Alarmed by the DeepSeek development, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration at first tightened control on sales of Nvidia chips…