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China’s DeepSeek AI is facing what it calls “large-scale malicious attacks,” disrupting its services just days after the little-known firm stunned the AI world with a model that rivals those of Silicon Valley’s biggest players.

Chinese state media claims the attacks are coming from U.S.-based IP addresses, though this has not been independently verified.

The timing is raising eyebrows.

The reported cyberattacks come only hours after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) is “looking into” DeepSeek, fueling speculation that Washington sees the Chinese firm as a growing concern.

The scrutiny follows last week’s shockwaves in the tech world, when DeepSeek’s AI assistant soared to the top of app stores, triggering a major selloff in U.S. tech stocks.

DeepSeek acknowledged the disruption in a notice on its website

“Due to large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek’s services, registration may be busy.”

This is the second time the company has reported cyberattacks this week, but according to Yuyuan Tantian, a social media channel linked to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, DeepSeek has been targeted by multiple attacks in recent weeks, with increasing intensity.

The firm’s rise has shaken Silicon Valley, where industry leaders have spent billions building AI models under the assumption that the U.S. held a significant lead over China.

The prevailing belief was that American firms, backed by cutting-edge semiconductor technology, were far ahead—especially after Washington restricted Beijing’s access to high-end AI chips. But DeepSeek’s breakthrough has forced a reevaluation.

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U.S. officials are now openly questioning the origins of DeepSeek’s technology. Speaking on Fox News, David Sacks, recently appointed as the White House’s AI and crypto czar, suggested that DeepSeek may have used OpenAI’s models to enhance its own system.

He pointed to “knowledge distillation,” a process where one AI model learns from another, as a potential explanation for DeepSeek’s rapid progress.

“There’s substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI’s models,” Sacks claimed. “I think you’re going to see U.S. AI companies take steps to prevent this kind of distillation… that would definitely slow down some of these copycat models.”

OpenAI later echoed those concerns, stating that Chinese and other firms are “constantly trying to distill the models of leading U.S. AI companies.”

The company emphasized that it is actively working with the U.S. government to protect its intellectual property.

As DeepSeek continues to dominate headlines, U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in, calling the Chinese startup’s emergence “a wake-up call” but also a potential opportunity.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump took a pragmatic stance:

“If you can do it cheaper, if you can do it for less, and get to the same end result, I think that’s a good thing for us.”

However, he dismissed concerns that DeepSeek’s rise signaled an American decline in AI, reaffirming his confidence that the U.S. will remain the dominant force in the field.

With DeepSeek now under attack—both digitally and politically—the coming weeks could determine whether the firm is a fleeting disruptor or a lasting force in the AI race.

Meanwhile, U.S. tech giants are bracing for what’s next, as Washington’s scrutiny over foreign AI advancements intensifies.

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