If startups includes openclaw users then I could see this being true.

Deepseek is barely behind frontier models while 10x cheaper and 99% discount for cache.

Dunno I put to deep seek the question what I’d need in hardware to get full service k3 with lower latency in western pa (I was making like it was a business proposition.) It says several million dollars at minimum.

Unlike iOS/Android choice which has broad personal ecosystem implications, changing IP address to another LLM provider is effortless.

Frankly I don't see much difference between Claude and DeepSeek except in the price. I use the Pro plan to work for a customer of mine and I topped up $2 on DeepSeek in late May for personal use. I worked on 3 projects and I still have $0.72 left. The Chinese companies will win on price, not openness.