ASML CEO sees low-cost AI models like DeepSeek driving more demand — not less

Group 1 - ASML anticipates that new low-cost AI chip models, such as DeepSeek's R1, will increase demand for AI chips rather than decrease it, according to CEO Christophe Fouquet [1][2] - ASML reported better-than-expected sales and profit for Q4, with an order backlog of approximately 36 billion euros ($37.4 billion) at the end of 2024, leading to a rise in the company's stock price [1] - The CEO noted that a lower cost of AI could lead to more applications, which in turn would drive increased demand for chips over time [2] Group 2 - Hyperscalers, including major cloud computing companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, are heavily investing in capital expenditure and research and development to enhance their data center infrastructure for AI models [3] - DeepSeek's recently launched R1 model is an open-source reasoning model that claims to outperform OpenAI's o1 model in both cost and performance [4]