The rise of DeepSeek has reenergized China’s artificial intelligence industry, drawing billions of dollars in state funding and a bigger push toward self-sufficiency. Its success has also sparked a race among startups to build products and services on top of its high-performing open-source technology, even as the country’s tech giants have rushed out competing AI models. Widening U.S. chip bans, combined with DeepSeek’s success, have pushed the Chinese AI ecosystem to innovate more quickly, stre...