One of the biggest stories from last week underscores just how critical AI has become—not just for Silicon Valley, but for America’s national security.

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is known for its dominance in artificial intelligence (AI) chips, holding about 80% of the market. The company sells the world's most expensive AI chips -- or graphics processing units (GPUs) -- but customers are willing to pay the price thanks to these products' top performance.

DeepSeek stunned the tech world with the release of its R1 "reasoning" model, matching or exceeding OpenAI's reasoning model for a fraction of the cost.

Shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) gained ground on Wednesday, climbing as much as 5%. As of 12:42 p.m. ET, the stock was still up 4.4%. The catalyst that sent the artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker higher was news that strong demand for its processors will likely continue.