Microsoft has moved surprisingly quickly to bring R1 to its Azure customers.

Development on the first DeepSeek R1 clone might have started with the announcement of the Open-R1 open-source project.

Microsoft MSFT.O has made Chinese startup DeepSeek's R1 artificial intelligence model available on its Azure cloud computing platform and GitHub tool for developers, the U.S. company said on Wednesday.

The Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek has rattled markets with claims its latest AI model performs on a par with those of OpenAI, despite using less advanced, more energy efficient compute

DeepSeek is a new artificial intelligence chatbot that’s sending shock waves through Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Washington. The app, named after the Chinese start-up that built it, rocketed to the top of Apple’s App Store in the United States over the weekend.

DeepSeek’s emergence has raised concerns that China may have overtaken the US in the artificial intelligence race despite restrictions on its access to the most advanced chips.