Jim Cramer took aim at panic sellers Tuesday as major tech stocks recovered from a sharp decline triggered by Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek‘s market entrance, with NVIDIA Corp. NVDA leading the rebound with an 8.82% gain.
What Happened: “The shoot first learn later crew really got hosed today,” CNBC’s Cramer wrote on X, following Monday’s tech sector selloff that erased nearly $600 billion from Nvidia’s market value amid concerns over DeepSeek’s claims of matching OpenAI’s performance at lower costs.
The phrase “shoot first, learn later” originates from the idiom “shoot first, ask questions later,” implying a hasty or impulsive action, often criticized in financial contexts for lacking due diligence.
The recovery saw Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. TSM surge 5.25% and Broadcom Inc. AVGO climb 2.57%, according to data from Benzinga Pro, as market sentiment shifted away from initial panic over DeepSeek’s potential disruption of the AI chip market.
Fundstrat Global Advisors‘ head of research Tom Lee characterized Monday’s selloff as “an overreaction” during CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” drawing parallels to Nvidia’s March 2020 decline that proved to be a strategic entry point for investors.
Why It Matters: The market response has raised questions about U.S.-China AI competition. “The sudden emergence of DeepSeek is a Sputnik-like moment for the U.S. and potentially undermines U.S. AI exceptionalism, but we see yesterday’s panic selling to be overdramatic,” Appreciate CEO Subho Moulik told Benzinga.
Adding complexity to the narrative, billionaire investor Bill Ackman questioned whether DeepSeek’s hedge fund affiliate, High-Flyer, potentially profited from the selloff through options trading. The Chinese startup emerged from High-Flyer, an $8 billion quantitative hedge fund co-founded by Liang Wenfeng.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged DeepSeek’s R1 as “an impressive model,” while Nvidia defended its position, stating that DeepSeek’s operations still “requires significant numbers of Nvidia [chips] and high-performance networking.”
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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