The news of the (extremely) cheaper Chinese DeepSeek response to OpenAI's ChatGPT — "40–50x more efficient than other large language models," according to Goldman's Rich Privorotsky in the days following DeepSeek's launch earlier this year — ushered in a new theme: doing more with less and the mounting risks of an emerging AI data center bubble.

On Tuesday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Chairman Joe Tsai told the audience at the HSBC Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong that the hundreds of billions of dollars in AI data center investments in the US appear to be the start of a bubble. 

"I start to see the beginning of some kind of bubble," Tsai said. He said some AI data center projects raised funds without securing "uptake" agreements, adding, "I start to get worried when people are building data centers on spec. There are a number of people coming up, funds coming out, to raise billions or millions of capital." 

At the same time as Tsai's warning, ChatGPT creator OpenAI, along with SoftBank, Oracle, and other US tech firms, have planned $500 billion in AI infrastructure projects. Also, Meta recently announced $200 billion in data center projects, while Apple revealed new AI investments in the US.