Microsoft, Meta back big AI spending despite DeepSeek’s low costs

By Aditya Soni and Deborah Mary Sophia

(Reuters) -Days after Chinese startup DeepSeek’s breakthrough low-cost AI computing shook the U.S. technology industry, CEOs of Microsoft and Meta defended massive spending saying it was crucial to staying competitive in the new field.

DeepSeek’s quick advances with models that it claimed can match or even outperform Western rivals at a fraction of the cost stirred doubts about the lead U.S. has, but the top executives said building huge computer…