Taiwan bans government use of DeepSeek over security concerns

BUSINESS INSIDER

Taiwan has banned government agencies from using DeepSeek, citing security concerns.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs said in a statement on Friday that public sector workers and critical infrastructure facilities should not use the Chinese company’s technology, as “its operation involves cross-border transmission and information leakage” and “endangers national information security.”

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek made headlines in January after unveiling a new flagship AI model called R1, which it says matches the reasoning capabilities of US models such as OpenAI’s o1 but for a fraction of the cost.

Its arrival sent shock waves through markets, with AI stocks tumbling last week. But the company is already facing regulatory hurdles in some countries.