U.S. tech stocks are collectively under pressure—is the market repeating a DeepSeek-style shock scenario?

The US tech sector continued its decline this week. While the apparent trigger was the potential delay of OpenAI’s IPO, analysts point out that Zhipu’s low-cost AI model may be a deeper threat—it not only affects the enterprise customers of OpenAI and Anthropic, but also casts doubt on the market’s optimistic outlook for AI infrastructure spending.

Wallstreetcn previously published an article, stating that OpenAI is considering postponing its IPO, partly because SpaceX shares performed poorly after listing and recent tech stock volatility intensified. This news directly triggered the sell-off.

However, according to Jefferies strategist Christopher Wood, quoting industry sources in a client report, Zhipu’s GLM5.2 model "performs almost as well as Anthropic but costs only a quarter per token." He characterized the past week as "another DeepSeek moment."

During Friday’s US stock trading, Micron Technology’s share price fell over 7%, AMD and Intel both dropped more than 4%, and Oracle continued to hit new lows after a cumulative 19% decline over the past five trading days.

Zhipu’s Low-Cost Model Disrupts Advanced AI Pricing Structure

Zhipu’s GLM5.2 model is viewed as the core variable behind the tech sector’s current pressure. According to Jefferies analysts’ Thursday report, this model not only matches Anthropic’s flagship product in performance, but also offers privacy protection on par with top-tier models.

Morgan Stanley traders said on Thursday that Zhipu’s new model exhibits "outstanding programming capabilities," and pointed out its direct competition in the enterprise market. They stated:

"The trend of enterprises and hyperscale cloud providers shifting to lower-cost models looks more like a recalibration of willingness to pay for AI, rather than a decline in AI demand."

Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid also mentioned similar pressures in his June 18 client report, stating that DeepSeek’s V4-Pro model

"Performs similarly to Anthropic’s flagship Claude Fable 5 in about 90% of daily tasks, but at only about 1.5% of the cost."

Enterprise AI Spending Patterns Rapidly Reshaping

AI pricing pressure has triggered a chain reaction among enterprises. In recent months, several companies have begun to cut AI spending or exceeded their original budgets; the token pricing for high-end AI models has increasingly become a pain point for enterprises.

Jefferies analysts further point out that if low-cost models also offer reliable privacy protection, enterprises would be motivated to move AI workloads from cloud providers back to their own servers, fundamentally altering the logic of AI infrastructure investment.

"The demand structure is clearly tilting toward lower-cost models," Morgan Stanley traders wrote in their report. This trend puts valuation pressure on Nvidia’s supply chain, cloud computing platforms, and even stocks related to data center construction.

OpenAI and Anthropic’s IPO Prospects Clouded

The rumor of OpenAI delaying its listing, combined with intensifying competition, has made the market more cautious in its valuation expectations for these two leading AI companies.

Analysts worry that if enterprise customers continue shifting to lower-priced models, OpenAI and Anthropic’s revenue growth before their IPOs will be eroded, and a potential price war between them could compress each company’s valuation space ahead of listing.

The ongoing emergence of cheaper, similarly performing open-source AI models is seen as a more profound threat to these two companies’ planned IPOs and the entire tech sector. The market’s previous projection for “astronomical growth” in AI infrastructure spending is now facing pressure for reevaluation.

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