| Good afternoon, DeepSeek will not derail Microsoft and Meta spending a combined $US145bn ($232.3bn) on artificial intelligence this year, with Mark Zuckerberg steaming ahead with plans to build a data centre almost the size of Manhattan. Microsoft and Meta were among the first big tech companies to report their quarterly earnings following DeepSeek’s launch, providing a glimpse of how Silicon Valley will react to the Chinese start-up. Despite the arrival of a brazen and extreme low-cost outsider to the AI race this week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will throw up to $US65bn ($104bn) this coming year to dominate the new technology. He’s not alone. The AI arms race is rushing ahead at full speed. Microsoft boss Satya Nadella wants to spend an eye-watering $US80bn this year – much of this on building out AI infrastructure like data centres. The federal government would follow a TikTok-style ban on Chinese AI app DeepSeek and ban the Australian public service from downloading the app on their work phones should security agencies find the app unsafe for use, says Special Envoy for Cyber Security Andrew Charlton. Let me know what you think — lynchj@theaustralian.com.au | 
