"Anyone that lowers cost is in fact good news for ASML, because lower cost means AI can be used in more applications. More applications means more chips," Christophe Fouquet told reporters.

He also predicted that more players like DeepSeek will shake up the market, given the huge opportunities in the sector.

Asked about the "elephant in the room" of DeepSeek, Fouquet said: "You should expect to see a few elephants in the rooms in the next few months or few years."

"The competition, especially when it comes to software -- because I think this is where the threshold to access is the lowest -- will be very high," he said.

The sudden emergence of Chinese start-up DeepSeek, which has unveiled a world-class AI chatbot at a fraction of the cost of Western competitors, has sent shockwaves through the tech sector.

DeepSeek surged to the top of Apple's App Store download charts this week as curious consumers flocked to test it.

The DeepSeek programme exploded onto the market despite US measures to restrict exports of the advanced chips needed to power the massive learning models used to develop AI.

But while the curbs have long aimed to ensure US tech dominance, analysts suggest they may have spurred DeepSeek to develop clever ways to overcome them.

The company has said it used the less-advanced H800 chips -- permitted for export to China until late 2023 -- to power its large learning model.

DeepSeek's success has showed that "US export controls are ineffective at preventing other countries from developing frontier models," George Washington University's Jeffrey Ding told AFP.