China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has begun utilising the recently launched Chinese AI tool “DeepSeek” for non-combat support tasks, particularly at military hospitals, to help the doctors create treatment plans in addition to other civilian areas. As per a Chinese media house based in Hong Kong, it stated on 23 March that the PLA hospitals, the People’s Armed Police (PAP), and national defence mobilisation institutions are using DeepSeek’s open-source large language models (LLMs). According to the Post, the PLA Central Theatre Command’s main hospital declared earlier this month that it had approved the “embedded deployment” of DeepSeek’s R1-70B LLM, stating that it could offer treatment plan recommendations to assist physicians. Noting that all data was processed and stored on local servers, the hospital also placed a strong emphasis on patient privacy and data security.
Nationwide Deployment
Similar deployments have been observed in other PLA hospitals across the country, such as Beijing’s prestigious PLA General Hospital, popularly referred to as “301 Hospital”, where extremely sensitive personal data is allegedly housed and prominent Chinese leaders and military officers receive treatment. The PLA, which is making significant investments in modernisation, previously warned its military forces against relying too much on AI, stating that since AI lacks the capacity for self-awareness, it should only be used as a guide rather than a substitute for human judgement in combat. As AI develops, it must continue to be a tool informed by human judgement, according to a January article in the Chinese military’s official media house, guaranteeing that responsibility, innovation, and strategic flexibility stay at the centre of military decision-making. Additionally, it said that in order to maximise command efficacy, AI must complement human decision-makers rather than take the place of them.
DeepSeek’s Low Cost Model Attracting Global Eyeballs
China is enthralled with DeepSeek’s most recent AI product, which has garnered international notice due to its affordable pricing structure. Furthermore, compared to well-known AI models like ChatGPT, DeepSeek’s R1 consumed a fraction of the processing power. Additionally, the US tech industry, which has long defended spending billions of dollars on AI, watched in shock when DeepSeek surpassed ChatGPT as the most popular free software on Apple’s App Appstore. Analysts anticipate that the AI models will soon be used in Chinese military decision-making and combat intelligence surveillance. China is encouraging AI integration in a variety of sectors, such as healthcare, manufacturing, and urban development, in addition to treatment programmes in military hospitals. Additionally, certain Chinese government organisations are increasingly using DeepSeek models, notably for anti-corruption initiatives. On its official media account, the Hainan paramilitary force’s political work department provided an example of how soldiers used DeepSeek to manage their anxiety and develop an exercise schedule. Before moving into more delicate, high-risk locations, the PLA may attempt to resolve operational and technical issues by first deploying LLMs in non-combat settings, Bresnick told the Post.
On February 4, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that a local foundational AI platform is anticipated in ten months, and that India may be able to develop its own high-end processing hardware, known as GPUs, in the next three to five years.
Vaishnaw stated that the government will provide 18,000 top-tier GPU-based computing facilities for AI development to entities in the nation within the next few days and anticipates India’s own AI platform within ten months during a Budget Roundtable 2025 hosted by two renowned media houses.
According to Vaishnav, the Ministry is considering three different solutions, each of which would include building the country’s own GPU using a chipset that is reasonably priced and either open source or licensed. The entire world has adopted this strategy, which will enable each nation to have its own GPU within three to five years.
Surge in GPU’s Demand
In the past, multimedia content processing involving several computational operations, such as gaming and video processing, was handled by GPUs (graphics processing units). However, the global demand for AI has caused a sharp increase in the demand for GPUs, and the US chip manufacturer Nvidia controls more than 80% of the industry. According to the minister, Indian Railways increased the confirmed ticket rate by 27% by leveraging AI models, and a number of start-ups have grown really effectively, albeit in comparison to ChatGPT.
According to him, developing artificial intelligence models requires high-end computing equipment, which can only be purchased by wealthy individuals. However, the government has put in place a system that allows everyone to access computing infrastructure at a reasonable cost. Vaishnaw added that researchers, academicians, companies, institutions, and IITs may all access this computing capability and use it to launch foundational models.
When asked whether India would have its own foundational model for AI, Vaishnaw responded, “10 months is the outer limit.” According to him, there are numerous research papers that essentially discuss mathematical techniques that, for instance, the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek has employed to make the entire process extremely effective.
Make In India Churning Jobs for Indians
According to Vaishnaw, 12 lakh direct and indirect jobs have been created by the government’s mobile manufacturing division under the Make in India initiative. In order to demonstrate the degree of quality and accuracy attained by Indian electronic industries, he displayed a metallic object that was made up of numerous precisely linked pieces, without any apparent lines.
He claimed that it took three years for a well-known Indian business to reach the high degree of accuracy needed by a vendor to supply parts for the production of Apple and Samsung’s high-end smartphones.
India now produces a number of goods and parts needed in the mobile phone sector, such as chargers, battery packs, various mechanics, USB cables, keypads, display assemblies, camera modules, lithium-ion batteries, speakers and microphones, vibrator motors, and more, according to the minister.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, isn’t overly concerned about DeepSeek’s ascension, even though the Chinese AI lab’s rapid rise has shocked Wall Street and Silicon Valley. In fact, Zuckerberg stated on January 29 that Meta’s open-source strategy, which is based on the large language model (LLM) Llama, has “strengthened our conviction that this is the right thing for us to be focused on.”
“There’s a number of novel things that they did that we’re still digesting… a number of advances that we will hope to implement in our systems, and that’s part of the nature of how this works,” Zuckerberg stated on the company’s earnings conference call. Every new firm that launches, whether or not it is a Chinese competitor, will have some new innovations that the rest of the industry may learn from, according to the head of Meta.
DeepSeek’s Gain Causing Tremors Among Established Players
With its boasts of creating a model that can compete with top-tier models from American companies like OpenAI, Meta, and Google for a fraction of the cost, DeepSeek has thrown Wall Street into a collapse over the past week, especially with regard to AI-related equities. Investors were alarmed by this since IT companies were spending billions of dollars developing their AI models and goods.
Zuckerberg stated during the earnings call that he continues to think that making significant investments in infrastructure and capital expenditures will eventually provide a competitive edge. “It’s probably too early to have a strong opinion on what this means for the trajectory around infrastructure and capex,” he stated.
Meta’s Plan to Outrun its Competitors
According to Zuckerberg, Meta plans to spend “hundreds of billions of dollars” on AI infrastructure in the long run. He declared last week that Meta will increase its AI efforts by investing between $60 billion and $65 billion in 2025. According to him, a large portion of the compute infrastructure will probably transition from the pre-training stage to creating strong “reasoning” models and superior products that will be sold to billions of customers.
Because you can “apply more compute at inference time in order to generate a higher level of intelligence and a higher quality of service,” Zuckerberg stated that this “doesn’t mean you need less compute.”
“As a company that has a strong business model to support this, I think that’s generally an advantage that we’re now going to be able to provide a higher quality of service than others who don’t necessarily have the business model to support it on a sustainable basis,” he stated.
Launch of Llama 4 in the Upcoming Month
In the upcoming months, Meta intends to release Llama 4 with native multimodal and agentic capabilities. “Llama 4’s training is going really well. Pre-training for Llama 4 mini is complete, and both our reasoning models and the larger model appear to be doing well,” Zuckerberg stated.
“With Llama 3, we wanted to make open source competitive with closed models, and with Llama 4, we want to lead,” he continued. Zuckerberg said that it will be feasible to create an AI engineering bot with coding and problem-solving skills comparable to those of a competent mid-level engineer by 2025.
India will soon host the Chinese AI platform DeepSeek on local servers, according to Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in order to allay privacy worries about cross-border data transfers. Since DeepSeek is an open-source AI model that may be hosted on Indian servers, the minister stated as much during a news conference on the IndiaAI Mission. “This project is currently being worked on by our team. The framework and other information, including the number of servers and capacity needed, have been prepared, Vaishnaw stated.
Strengthening Country’s Data Protection System
In keeping with the nation’s worries about data protection, Vaishnaw also stated that all of the open-source models will soon be housed on Indian servers. The IT community was recently rocked by DeepSeek‘s ability to create its own LLM using just 2,000 Nvidia H800 GPUs. For comparison, OpenAI‘s ChatGPT-4 uses one lakh GPUs, specifically the more sophisticated H100. Furthermore, the Chinese business asserted that, in contrast to OpenAI’s $100 million investment, it was able to accomplish this with a mere $6 million.
The development coincides with the government’s efforts to safeguard Indians’ digital data, as data protection has become a major area of attention. The draft regulations for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act were recently made available for public comment until February 18 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
India’s Plan on Building its Own AI Foundation Model
According to the draft, data fiduciaries—entities that decide how personal data is processed—must give data principals—end users whose data they are collecting—all the specific information they need to give them so they can decide whether or not to use their personal data. In the meantime, DeepSeek’s success has sparked a discussion in India about the necessity of creating its own core models. Vaishnaw stated during the conference that India intends to use the IndiaAI Mission to develop its own huge language models.
Abhishek Singh, additional secretary, Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), stated during his visit to GIFT City in Gujarat on 27 January that India is seeking proposals for developing its own foundational model in order to compete with foreign AI foundational models that serve as the basis for numerous applications such as ChatGPT and Gemini. He added that how India creates a basic model has been a major problem.
At the moment, every core model that a nation uses, including ChatGPT, Llama 3, Gemini, and Claude, is foreign. China has now developed Deepseek and other models as well. To create an Indian foundational model, India must invest and offer financial assistance. The foreign fundamental models can provide incorrect or unsuitable answers because they were trained on western data sets and are not adapted to Indian languages and contexts.
According to a news agency, Chinese internet giant Alibaba on 29 January unveiled an updated version of its Qwen 2.5 artificial intelligence model, which it said outperformed the much-lauded DeepSeek-V3. The Qwen 2.5-Max’s odd release date—the first day of the Lunar New Year, when the majority of Chinese are off from work and spending time with their families—indicates how much pressure DeepSeek’s explosive growth over the last three weeks has put on both its domestic and international competitors.
Alibaba’s cloud unit released a statement on its official WeChat account stating that “Qwen 2.5-Max outperforms… almost across the board GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and Llama-3.1-405B,” alluding to the most cutting-edge open-source AI models from OpenAI and Meta. Alibaba has invested heavily in its cloud services division with Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu Inc., and it is in a fierce competition to hire Chinese AI developers to utilise its tools.
Locking Horns with Set Players
This week, the 20-month-old startup DeepSeek, which was established in Hangzhou, Alibaba‘s hometown, rocked US tech companies. Alibaba Cloud also disclosed results indicating that, in some benchmarks, its AI outperforms OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s models.
In an effort to attract more customers, cloud service providers like Tencent and Alibaba have recently lowered their prices. Along with six other promising AI businesses in China that have raised money at unicorn values, DeepSeek has already participated in that pricing war.
Comparing DeepSeek with Domestic Rivals
When DeepSeek‘s V3 model’s predecessor, DeepSeek-V2, came out in May of last year, it set off a pricing war for AI models in China. Alibaba’s cloud division announced price reductions of up to 97% on a variety of models due to DeepSeek-V2’s open-source nature and historically low cost of just 1 yuan ($0.14) for 1 million tokens, or units of data processed by the AI model.
Other Chinese tech giants followed suit, such as Tencent, the most valuable internet company in the nation, and Baidu (9888.HK), which launched China’s first ChatGPT-like app in March 2023. In a rare interview with Chinese media site Waves in July, Liang Wenfeng, the mysterious creator of DeepSeek, stated that the company “did not care” about price wars and that its primary objective was to achieve artificial general intelligence, or AGI.
AGI is defined by OpenAI as autonomous systems that outperform humans in the majority of economically significant tasks. Young graduates and PhD students from prestigious Chinese universities make up the majority of DeepSeek’s workforce, which functions more like a research lab than the hundreds of thousands of workers employed by major Chinese internet businesses like Alibaba.
Liang contrasted DeepSeek’s lean operations and flexible management style with the exorbitant costs and top-down structures of China’s major tech companies, saying in his July interview that he thought they might not be well suited to the future of the AI business. Liang went on to say that IT giants’ skills have their limits and that large foundational models require ongoing innovation.
DeepSeek has emerged as a formidable force in the AI industry, rapidly challenging established players with its groundbreaking approach to artificial intelligence. Unlike traditional AI firms that rely on expensive proprietary models and massive computational power, DeepSeek has adopted an innovative, cost-efficient strategy that delivers high-performance results without the need for cutting-edge hardware. By leveraging open-source methodologies and advanced training techniques, the company has proven that AI breakthroughs don’t always require billion-dollar budgets.
With its unique ability to develop powerful AI models at a fraction of the cost, DeepSeek is not just a competitor—it is a paradigm shift in how artificial intelligence is built and deployed.
In this StartupTalky article, we will explore DeepSeek’s journey, its founder, startup story, business model, revenue model, competitors, challenges, and the implications of its success on the AI industry.
DeepSeek AI is a China-based company specializing in open-source large language models. Backed entirely by the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, it has managed to create AI tools that rival ChatGPT in performance. What’s remarkable is that DeepSeek achieved this using significantly fewer resources and at a fraction of the cost. The company developed its model despite challenges posed by U.S. sanctions on China, which limited access to Nvidia chips and aimed to curb the country’s progress in advanced AI technologies.
DeepSeek – Industry
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, has shaken the global AI landscape with its low-cost, open-source model, R1. This breakthrough has put pressure on industry leaders like OpenAI and Meta while triggering a notable market reaction—most significantly, a decline in Nvidia’s valuation. DeepSeek’s rise underscores China’s growing influence in artificial intelligence, forcing competitors to rethink their strategies.
Disrupting the AI Industry: DeepSeek’s cost-efficient, open-source model challenges tech giants like OpenAI and Meta, redefining AI accessibility.
Market Ripples: The impact of DeepSeek’s entry is evident, with Nvidia’s market cap decline signaling a shift in industry dynamics.
India’s AI Landscape: While India has promising AI initiatives, it lags in global competition. Prioritizing cost-effective solutions and attracting top talent could help bridge the gap.
Projected AI Growth: The global AI market is on track to reach $1.8 trillion by 2030, while India’s domestic AI industry is expected to grow to $17 billion by 2027, presenting significant opportunities for innovation and investment.
DeepSeek – Founders and Team
Liang Wenfeng, Founder & CEO
Liang Wenfeng – Founder and CEO, DeepSeek
You’ve heard of Tim Cook, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman — big names in tech and innovation. But lately, it’s Liang Wenfeng who’s turning heads. He’s the brain behind DeepSeek R1, the cutting-edge Chinese AI model that has caught the industry off guard and shaken up Wall Street.
Liang is a Chinese entrepreneur who co-founded the hedge fund High-Flyer and later launched its AI division, DeepSeek. Born in 1985 in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, he grew up in a simple household, with his father working as a primary school teacher.
He studied at Zhejiang University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electronic information engineering in 2007, followed by a master’s degree in information and communication engineering in 2010. For his master’s thesis, Liang worked on a project about low-cost PTZ cameras and tracking algorithms — a far cry from the world-changing AI he’s known for today.
Liang’s interest in AI and finance took shape during the 2007–2008 financial crisis. While still in university, he teamed up with classmates to gather financial market data and experiment with quantitative trading using machine learning. After graduating, Liang moved to an affordable flat in Chengdu, Sichuan, where he tried applying AI to different industries. Most of his early ventures didn’t work out, but everything changed when he focused on finance, paving the way for his later success.
Liang Wenfeng might not be a household name outside China, but his knack for merging emerging technologies with smart investments has built a reputation that’s hard to ignore. In April 2023, High-Flyer, the hedge fund he co-founded, launched an artificial general intelligence (AGI) lab focused on developing AI tools outside its financial ventures. Just a month later, this lab spun off into its entity, DeepSeek, with High-Flyer as one of its key backers.
Venture capital firms initially hesitated to invest, doubting the lab’s ability to deliver quick returns. However, DeepSeek silenced skeptics in May 2024 with the release of DeepSeek-V2, an AI model offering impressive performance at a remarkably low cost. This move sparked what’s now referred to as China’s “AI model price war.” Tech giants like ByteDance, Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba were forced to slash their AI model prices to keep up. Despite its affordability, DeepSeek managed to turn a profit, unlike many of its rivals that struggled with losses. Its pricing strategy earned it the nickname “the Pinduoduo of AI.”
Interestingly, DeepSeek remains research-focused, with no immediate plans for commercialization. This approach not only sets it apart but also allows its technology to sidestep China’s strictest AI regulations, which heavily govern consumer-facing tech. By staying out of the spotlight of direct consumer applications, DeepSeek has carved a unique niche in the AI industry.
DeepSeek – Mission and Vision
Mission DeepSeek’s mission is to redefine how high-performing AI models are developed by leveraging innovative training techniques and cost-effective resources. By utilizing less-advanced chips and pioneering new approaches to model training, DeepSeek aims to make advanced AI accessible, efficient, and affordable, driving progress in artificial intelligence without the need for cutting-edge hardware.
Vision DeepSeek envisions becoming a global leader in AI innovation, setting a benchmark for building powerful yet cost-efficient AI systems. The company aspires to revolutionize the AI landscape by proving that excellence can be achieved through ingenuity and resourcefulness, shaping a future where AI is both impactful and sustainable.
DeepSeek – Name, Tagline and Logo
DeepSeek Logo
DeepSeek – Business Model
DeepSeek is shaking up the AI world with its large language models (LLMs) that compete head-to-head with industry giants like OpenAI, Google, and Meta. Despite hurdles such as chip export restrictions, the company has achieved extraordinary milestones, raising questions about the future of AI development and its underlying technologies.
In December 2024, DeepSeek launched an LLM that performed on par with OpenAI’s models, capturing the industry’s attention. Just a month later, in January 2025, the company revealed another model, claiming it was developed at a fraction of the cost of its competitors. These breakthroughs, driven by open-source technology and groundbreaking training techniques, have left Wall Street analysts speculating about DeepSeek’s unique approach and its potential to disrupt the AI market.
What sets DeepSeek apart is its ability to deliver high-performing AI systems without relying on advanced, high-cost chips. This has sparked a larger conversation about whether the demand for high-end semiconductors, a critical factor in the success of companies like Nvidia, will remain as strong as before. DeepSeek’s success demonstrates that innovation and resourcefulness may now play a more significant role in shaping the future of AI than access to the most cutting-edge hardware.
DeepSeek, initially known for its prowess in quantitative trading and algorithm development, has leveraged its expertise in mathematics, optimization, and resource management to make waves in the AI industry. By repurposing its extensive GPU infrastructure—originally intended for trading and mining—DeepSeek has efficiently trained and deployed its AI models, including the groundbreaking DeepSeek R1, at a fraction of the cost of its competitors.
The release of models like DeepSeek V3 and R1 as open-source and open-weights has been a game-changer for the AI industry. This bold move directly challenges major players like OpenAI and Claude, who have invested billions into proprietary models and infrastructure. By making its models freely accessible, DeepSeek has enabled anyone to reproduce and utilize its technology, shifting the focus from monetization to industry disruption and influence.
While the models themselves are free, DeepSeek offers a highly affordable API for running the models, making advanced AI accessible to a broader audience. This low-cost strategy could attract a significant user base, allowing the company to generate revenue through scale. Additionally, DeepSeek’s innovative techniques for efficient training and inference ensure that the company can sustain its low-cost offerings while remaining profitable.
By disrupting traditional AI business models and democratizing access to advanced AI technology, DeepSeek is not just reshaping the AI landscape—it’s redefining how innovation and efficiency can drive both accessibility and profitability.
DeepSeek – Challenges Faced
While DeepSeek’s rise in the AI industry has been impressive, its disruptive approach has not come without significant challenges.
Industry Disruption and Competition
By releasing its V3 and R1 models as open-source with open weights, DeepSeek has upended the AI industry, challenging established players like OpenAI and Claude. These competitors have poured billions into proprietary models and infrastructure, creating a stark contrast to DeepSeek’s accessible, low-cost offerings. While this strategy has earned DeepSeek praise, it has also sparked intense competition and scrutiny. Critics question whether DeepSeek’s open-source model can sustain long-term innovation and profitability in the face of giants with vast resources.
Cybersecurity Threats
DeepSeek has also faced direct threats in the form of large-scale cyberattacks. These attacks have temporarily forced the company to limit user registrations as it works to assess the extent of the damage and implement precautionary measures. The company’s website even issued a public notice, acknowledging “large-scale malicious attacks” that are disrupting its services. While DeepSeek has not disclosed specific details about the nature of these attacks, the situation highlights the vulnerabilities faced by tech companies, particularly those that challenge established norms.
Operational Strain
As its low-cost AI models continue to gain global attention, DeepSeek is grappling with the operational strain of handling increased demand while dealing with ongoing security challenges. The surge in interest, coupled with malicious attacks, has made it difficult for new users to access its services, potentially stalling its growth momentum.
Navigating Global Perceptions
DeepSeek’s Chinese origins also add a layer of complexity in navigating global markets, particularly as geopolitical tensions and concerns over data security influence public perception and industry partnerships. The company’s reliance on innovative, cost-effective strategies may face skepticism in regions where proprietary systems are the norm.
DeepSeek – Online and Social Media Presence
Social Media Buzz and Public Reaction
DeepSeek AI has taken the online world by storm, rapidly gaining traction across social media and app stores. On the Apple App Store, it has even outpaced OpenAI’s ChatGPT in popularity, thanks to its promise of delivering high-quality AI capabilities at a fraction of the cost of major US tech giants.
Viral Hype and Memes
DeepSeek Memes
The launch of DeepSeek-R1 has triggered a wave of online discussions, with social media flooded with reactions ranging from excitement to humor. Users have shared memes and witty commentary on the model’s unexpected rise, playfully mocking how it has disrupted the AI industry and forced competitors to rethink their pricing strategies.
Strong Presence Across Platforms
DeepSeek AI is aggressively promoting its models—V3, R1, and Janus-Pro-7B—on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), WeChat, and Reddit. The company’s marketing efforts emphasize its ability to challenge the status quo, making AI more accessible and affordable.
Community-Driven Growth
Unlike many closed-source AI projects, DeepSeek’s open approach has fueled community engagement. Developers, researchers, and enthusiasts have actively discussed the potential of its open-weight models, further amplifying its reach.
With its mix of affordability, performance, and viral appeal, DeepSeek AI is proving that a well-executed disruption can capture both market share and cultural attention.
DeepSeek – Competitors
DeepSeek AI’s rapid rise has disrupted the AI landscape, challenging traditional business models and sending shockwaves through the market. Its low-cost, open-source approach threatens established players who rely on expensive, proprietary AI models. As competition heats up, major tech firms are being forced to rethink their strategies.
DeepSeek AI is making waves in the global AI landscape, proving that cutting-edge models don’t require billions in funding. With its latest release, DeepSeek V3, the company has positioned itself as a serious contender against industry giants like OpenAI and Meta, delivering impressive performance at a fraction of the usual cost.
Competitive Performance: DeepSeek V3 excels in text comprehension, coding, and problem-solving, matching leading AI models.
Unmatched Cost Efficiency: Trained using just 2.78 million GPU hours ($5.58M), far less than Meta’s 30.8 million GPU hours.
Breakthrough Technology: Leverages Multi-Head Latent Attention (MLA) and Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) to optimize speed and memory use.
Open-Source Approach: By making its models publicly available, DeepSeek fosters innovation and accessibility in AI development.
FAQs
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence company that develops open-source large language models (LLMs).
Who is the founder of DeepSeek?
Liang Wenfeng is the founder and CEO of DeepSeek.
When was DeepSeek founded?
DeepSeek was founded in 2023.
Is DeepSeek a Chinese company?
Yes, DeepSeek is a Chinese company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
The world of technology has been rocked in the past 48 hours. The value of US tech stocks has fallen by $1 trillion, the US is no longer the undisputed leader in AI, and India has realised that it’s not even in the race for AI supremacy. The cause of this upheaval? DeepSeek is a small AI research lab in China that’s making waves.
Liang, who started as a curious student tinkering with algorithms, has become a visionary entrepreneur competing with Silicon Valley giants like OpenAI in less than a decade. Through his company, DeepSeek, Liang has shown that AI doesn’t need to be about massive resources but about strategic vision, efficiency, and innovation. Liang has gone from leading the charge in quantitative finance to launching the disruptive R1 AI model that rocked global benchmarks, making him the ‘Sam Altman of China’.
In this article, we look at the story of Liang Wenfeng, the man who is rewriting the future of artificial intelligence, challenging the hegemony of Western tech giants, and showing that the next big leap in AI innovation can happen anywhere.
Liang Wenfeng Biography
Full Name
Liang Wenfeng
Date of Birth
1985
Birthplace
Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China
Education
Zhejiang University (BEng, MEng)
Profession
Founder and CEO of DeepSeek
Known For
Co-founder of High-Flyer Founder and CEO of DeepSeek
Thesis
Research on target tracking algorithm based on low-cost PTZ camera (2010)
Liang Wenfeng was born in 1985 to an education-focused family in Zhanjiang, Guangdong. His formative years were shaped by his father, a school teacher who stressed the importance of learning. Liang grew up in a modest environment, thus developing a natural curiosity and a strong interest in finding solutions at a young age.
Liang was an excellent student in school, especially in subjects such as mathematics and science. He used what he had, even if it was limited access to advanced technological resources in his hometown. Sometimes, he would dive into books and projects that stretched his understanding. He had a drive to learn and grow, and his teachers saw his potential early on and pushed him to go for his dreams.
Liang’s passion for knowledge was nurtured from these humble beginnings, which also laid the foundation for his later success in the field of artificial intelligence.
After earning his Master’s degree in information and communication engineering from Zhejiang University in 2010, Liang started to explore the intersection of technology and finance. When he and his classmates embarked on collecting financial market data and testing quantitative trading strategies with machine learning during the 2007–2008 financial crisis, his early experimentation paved the way for his future breakthroughs.
After graduating, Liang moved to Chengdu, where he lived in a modest flat and tirelessly explored different applications of AI. But Liang’s resolve was strong, and many of his first ventures failed. His eureka moment came when he realized that applying AI to quantitative finance, an emerging field combining his engineering background with his desire to solve complex problems, was a real opportunity.
In 2013, Liang co-founded Hangzhou Yakebi Investment Management Co., Ltd. with fellow Zhejiang University alumnus Xu Jin. Liang’s first venture into finance was integrating AI with quantitative trading. Based on this success, he co-founded Zhejiang Jiuzhang Asset Management Co., Ltd. (formerly Hangzhou Huanfang Technology Co., Ltd.) in 2015 and quickly became a leader in China’s financial sector.
High-Flyer
In 2016, Liang formed Ningbo High Flyer Quantitative Investment Management Partnership with two classmates. Powered by advanced mathematics and AI, High-Flyer quickly established itself as a leader in the crowded world of finance. Using an innovative approach, the firm grew to an impressive 10 billion yuan in assets in 2019.
High-Flyer wasn’t just about profits; Liang’s vision went further. In a keynote speech at the 2019 Golden Bull Awards ceremony, he said that quantitative trading is essentially about using algorithms and data-driven methods instead of human portfolio managers. Liang described High-Flyer’s mission as improving China’s secondary markets, an area in which he was more interested in improving finance efficiency.
Founding DeepSeek
Deepseek – Liang Wenfeng
Liang’s curiosity and ambition took him to new horizons even as High-Flyer thrived. In 2021, he started buying thousands of Nvidia GPUs, sparking speculation about what he was up to. This seemed too many to be the eccentric hobby of a successful entrepreneur. However, Liang had a grander vision: to create transformative AI models.
In 2019, Liang founded High-Flyer AI, a venture to research AI algorithms and their practical applications. He took this vision one step further in 2023 when he founded DeepSeek, a company focused on artificial general intelligence (AGI). DeepSeek first struggled to find external capital, as its long-term goals did not fit the short-term focus of many venture capital firms, until it was funded by High-Flyer.
However, DeepSeek quickly gained momentum. In December 2024, the company’s V3 model ran on 2,000 Nvidia H800 chips at a cost of less than $6 million, a remarkable efficiency compared to industry standards. DeepSeek’s success put it in the running as a serious player in the global AI landscape.
DeepSeek cemented its reputation further in January 2025 when it launched its R1 model, which shocked Silicon Valley. Liang’s decision to focus on long-term innovation over short-term profitability was a game-changing strategy.
Leadership and Vision
Liang’s companies are not the only things he’s influencing. He was invited to a high-profile symposium in January 2025 hosted by Premier Li Qiang to give insights and suggestions on the 2024 government work report. Liang, recognized as an industry expert, emphasized the need to help build confidence and knowledge in China’s innovation ecosystem. He stressed that China must transition from being a technology consumer to a global contributor.
According to Liang, his leadership philosophy is based on collaboration and inclusivity. For example, DeepSeek primarily hires locally educated talent, and they look for passion and ability, not credentials. Liang also believes that open-source approaches are the best way to go in disruptive technologies, saying that closed systems are only good for a short period of time.
Liang Wenfeng – DeepSeek AI
Under Liang Wenfeng’s visionary leadership, DeepSeek is at the forefront of AI innovation, with large models and the audacious aim of AGI.
In a 2024 interview, Liang emphasized that DeepSeek’s core principle is balance: “We keep our margins so modest that we don’t lose or make too much.”
DeepSeek differs from many other companies in the industry because it is committed to being open-source. Liang also pointed out that the company’s collaborative ethos means that ‘establishing a robust technology ecosystem matters more than going closed source.’
Liang is determined to change China’s AI landscape, even though the industry has a history of playing catch-up with the US.
Liang Wenfeng – Personal Life
While his groundbreaking achievements in AI are certainly not the only factor contributing to Liang Wenfeng’s journey to success, his deep sense of family and unwavering values are also major factors. Liang is one of China’s most influential entrepreneurs and, as of 2025, has a net worth of $3.2 billion. He is wealthy, yet he’s incredibly humble, always giving credit to the people who support him and encourage him to succeed.
Liang is a dedicated family man, and his wife, Zhang Mei, has been a key part of his journey. They’ve created a life together based on humility, perseverance and mutual respect. They have been married for over a decade, and their relationship reflects the values they hold, balancing personal and professional life. The couple have two children, and Liang frequently talks about the importance of teaching the values of hard work and determination to them.
Liang’s foray into AI started in 2008 when he and his classmates tested out combining artificial intelligence with finance during the global financial crisis.
Born into a modest household in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, Liang’s father was a primary school teacher. This upbringing was discipline and a passion for knowledge.
He received a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Information Engineering from Zhejiang University and a Master’s in Information and Communication Engineering. His thesis was on cost-effective target-tracking algorithms.
Liang successfully integrated AI into quantitative trading in 2013, which was a precursor to his future success in finance and technology.
By 2019, Liang had transformed Ningbo High-Flyer into an AI-driven quantitative trading leader and managed more than 10 billion yuan.
Before the US imposed restrictions on AI chips, Liang bought 10,000 Nvidia A100 GPUs for his company DeepSeek, putting it ahead of the pack.
Liang founded DeepSeek in 2023 to advance artificial general intelligence, and it’s a game changer in China’s AI landscape.
Liang believes in hiring passionate and talented people rather than experienced people, innovating, and having a long-term vision rather than short-term profit.
He believes in open innovation and that disruptive technologies should not be closed source.
The launch of DeepSeek V2 and other cutting-edge projects, such as the AI price war, proved DeepSeek’s disruptive potential.
At the 2019 Golden Bull Awards, Liang spoke about the superiority of AI-driven decision-making over human biases in finance.
Liang’s early business ventures were not easy, but his perseverance brought him to amazing success, illustrating his determination and will to succeed.
Liang pioneered bringing AI into financial markets and how quantitative trading operates globally.
FAQs
Who is Liang Wenfeng?
Liang Wenfeng is the founder and CEO of DeepSeek.
What is Deepseek?
DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence company focused on developing open-source large language models (LLMs).
What is Liang Wenfeng networth?
Lian Wenfeng’s net worth as of January 2025 is $3.2 billion.
