There is no doubt that the rise of this Chinese AI is incredible, but many are wondering who is behind DeepSeek and how do they make money?

This is no longer news. DeepSeek has become the sensation of the moment in the world of technology. This Chinese company, founded just two years ago, has achieved what seemed impossible: creating an artificial intelligence model as good as those of OpenAI or Google, but offering it for free and with minimal development costs.

DeepSeek’s flagship model, called DeepSeek-R1, is capable of performing tasks such as mathematical reasoning and code generation at the level of the best on the market. But what’s even more impressive is that it has achieved this with fewer resources than those used by its competitors. According to the company, the training cost was only 6 million dollars, compared with the 100 million estimated for OpenAI’s GPT-4.

With all this, on January 27, 2025, DeepSeek’s app surpassed ChatGPT as the most downloaded app on the US App Store . The news caused an 18% drop in the shares of Nvidia, the leading manufacturer of AI chips, making clear its vulnerability to this new competition.

But what is most striking is that this meteoric rise is taking place amid enormous tensions between China and the United States. The sanctions imposed by the United States to limit China’s access to chips seem to have had the opposite effect than intended. Instead of slowing development, they have driven engineers like Luo Fuli, the young prodigy behind DeepSeek, to seek new solutions that have turned out to be more efficient.

As expected, this breakthrough raises the question of whether the Chinese government has collaborated with subsidies and millions of dollars to make this a reality. However, according to recent reports, the company has not yet received direct state funding.

Despite all this, and despite offering its model for free, DeepSeek has a plan to generate revenue. The company charges for access to its models through its API, which could become an important source of income in the near future.

Liang Wenfeng, the Chinese Sam Altman behind DeepSeek

Born in 1985 in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, Liang Wenfeng is not your typical AI startup founder . With a master’s degree in information and communication engineering from Zhejiang University, Liang began his career in finance, co-founding investment firm Ningbo High-Flyer in 2016.

But Liang’s real story begins in 2021. He got hold of 10,000 Nvidia chips, which are not exactly cheap, and gathered a group of young people fresh out of university. Many people thought he had gone crazy and that there was no logical reason for doing this.

Liang’s creation of DeepSeek was not motivated by immediate profit but by curiosity. “Basic scientific research rarely offers high returns on investment,” he says.

This Chinese AI, operating under the umbrella of Liang’s hedge fund Fire-Flyer, has achieved the unthinkable. Its DeepSeek-R1 model, launched on January 20, 2025, not only rivals OpenAI in reasoning and math tests, but does so more efficiently.

Liang’s philosophy for DeepSeek is this: “We will not sell at a loss or seek excessive profits,” he said in an interview. He is also committed to keeping the source open, believing that “establishing a robust technology ecosystem is more important.”

China urges not to politicize technology after DeepSeek blocked in South Korea

But beware, DeepSeek’s success has also brought with it political problems. Recently, South Korea blocked access to the app, citing security concerns. In response, the Chinese government has called for the technology not to be politicized, arguing that such actions clash with the spirit of international cooperation and free trade.

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Of course, when it comes to AI, things are heated, and not just in the US. While China is seeking to position itself as a leader in this key technology, other countries fear security and privacy issues when using systems developed under its jurisdiction.

The DeepSeek case raises important questions about the future of global AI. Can China maintain its technological edge in the face of Western restrictions? How will this competition affect international scientific collaboration? And perhaps most importantly, how will countries balance technological innovation with national security concerns?