DeepSeek’s threat sends Netweb Technologies shares plummeting 13%

Shares of Netweb Technologies plunged as much as 13% on Monday to Rs 1,605 on the BSE, tracking a broad-based global selloff in artificial-intelligence based technology stocks. The rout was triggered by the surging popularity of DeepSeek, a Chinese startup whose low-cost artificial intelligence solutions have challenged market assumptions about the sector’s profitability and the demand for high-tech chips.

Netweb Technologies, which earns about 15% of its operating revenue from its AI segment, has positioned itself as a key player in the AI ecosystem through an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partnership with U.S. chipmaking giant NVIDIA. This collaboration involves designing advanced GPU systems using NVIDIA’s Blackwell GB200 platform, a cornerstone of the company’s growth strategy in AI.

“AI has emerged as a key growth driver, contributing to around 14.7% of the company’s operating revenue in the nine-month period of financial year ’25, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 136.3%,” Sanjay Lodha, chairman and managing director of Netweb Technologies, said on a recent investor call.

DeepSeek’s disruptive entry into the AI space has rattled investor confidence across markets. The Hangzhou-based startup has launched an AI assistant that promises performance comparable to top-tier chatbots while relying on lower-cost chips and less energy. This innovation has cast doubt on the long-held belief that AI advancements would require increasingly sophisticated and expensive hardware, a key revenue driver for companies like Netweb.

The fallout was evident across global markets. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.7% on Monday, weighed down by declines in technology stocks. U.S. Nasdaq Composite futures slid 3.1%, while Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta shares all saw declines in early European trading, with Nvidia’s Frankfurt-listed stock sliding nearly 7%.

Netweb’s close ties to Nvidia make it particularly vulnerable to shifts in the AI hardware landscape. As a manufacturing partner for Nvidia’s cutting-edge platforms, the company has been a beneficiary of the sector’s expansion, but the emergence of low-cost challengers like DeepSeek poses a direct threat to this growth narrative.Founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, DeepSeek has gained rapid traction with its open-source AI models and a widely popular mobile app, raising questions about how the global tech ecosystem will adapt to its lower-cost, lower-power approach.Also read | IndiGo operator InterGlobe Aviation shares rise 1.5%, Goldman Sachs and Kotak slash target prices

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