There's more fallout from China's DeepSeek, with US officials probing whether the startup bought advanced Nvidia semiconductors through third parties in Singapore to circumvent US restrictions, people familiar with the matter said. Meanwhile, US Defense Department employees connected to Chinese servers to access the new AI chatbot for at least two days before the Pentagon shut off their access.

Tech companies continue to report mixed results. Apple cheered investors with its forecast after China sales slid. Samsung shares fell after it reported a smaller-than-expected profit, while Intel beat revenue forecasts but warned its revamp is a work in progress. Separately, Hynix shares tumbled in a post-holiday catchup to the DeepSeek rout.

ECB President Christine Lagarde predicted that no European Union country will choose to add Bitcoin to its monetary reserves. Responding to comments by her Czech counterpart, Ales Michl, that his institution will look into the matter, she said the cryptocurrency doesn't meet the criteria of either the ECB or any other nation in the bloc.

“Hundreds” of companies have worked to block access to DeepSeek tools due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government, Nadir Izrael, chief technology officer of the cyber firm Armis said, referring to the startup's own clientele.

Governments are scrutinizing DeepSeek's privacy controls, with Italy blocking the service. Watch Asian tech shares after Apple gave a reassuring revenue forecast for the current quarter, saying sales will grow by a percentage in the low- to mid-single digits. This comes after a mixed report that showed jarring declines for China and the iPhone.