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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is an Unexpected Beneficiary of DeepSeek
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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is an Unexpected Beneficiary of DeepSeek

Story Highlights

Apple discovers that DeepSeek was a big help in several ways, and more emerges about the DeepSeek cyberattack.

The arrival of DeepSeek’s R1 artificial intelligence (AI) tool left the market reeling yesterday. But new reports suggest that tech stock Apple (AAPL) actually proved a beneficiary of DeepSeek’s arrival. That idea proved welcome to Apple shareholders, who sent shares surging nearly 4% in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.

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The report noted that, thanks to DeepSeek, Apple managed to recover its status as the most valuable company on Earth. With DeepSeek taking some of the wind out of Nvidia’s (NVDA) sails while giving Apple a boost itself, that was enough to turn the tables once more. Further, DeepSeek’s arrival prompted plenty of change on the App Store as well. With lots of new potential customers coming in, it stands to reason Apple made a few incidental sales from customers coming in.

Further, the boost to App Store use allowed Apple a new tool in its various legal battles over the platform, allowing it to call the App Store “…a major signifier of cultural clout in the world.” Finally, Apple’s Apple Intelligence suffered no loss from DeepSeek’s existence, thanks to on-device processing and a program of quietly building internally when it comes to AI development.

More About the Attack

Meanwhile, yesterday, word emerged about the DeepSeek cyberattack, and now, some further news has also hit. The attack appears to have been at least partially a denial of service attack, as users could not actually log into the company’s website. But reports also noted that the attack was connected to DeepSeek’s application programming interface (API).

Who is behind the attack, however, remains unclear. Though given that DeepSeek is already being lauded as being a match for some of the biggest AI in the United States—even, potentially, surpassing them—it could be that someone considered it threat enough to launch said cyberattack.

Is Apple a Buy, Hold or Sell?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on AAPL stock based on 19 Buys, seven Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 25.12% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AAPL price target of $243.24 per share implies 1.87% upside potential.

See more AAPL analyst ratings

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