DeepSeek topped the Apple AppStore chart and sparked fears the Chinese company is quickly catching up with OpenAI's ChatGPT while costing far less.

European shares slid on Monday as the technology sector joined the retreat in other markets after China's upgraded low-cost, low-power artificial intelligence (AI) model sparked worries about the profits of rivals and the need for costly tech.

Chinese startup DeepSeek has rolled out a free assistant it says uses lower-cost chips and less data, seemingly challenging a widespread bet in financial markets that AI will drive demand along a supply chain from chipmakers to data centers.