On January 20, a new version of DeepSeek, a free AI-powered chatbot developed in China, was released—rapidly climbing to the top of Apple’s App Store downloads and unsettling U.S. markets. The mastermind behind this technology is 40-year-old Liang Wenfeng, who founded DeepSeek in December 2023.
Liang’s Background
Liang was raised in Guangdong, a province that during the eighties and nineties led the country in adopting market capitalism. Unlike many around him who prioritized entrepreneurship over academics, Liang had a deep interest in scholarly pursuits. At 17, he enrolled at the prestigious Zhejiang University, where he majored in Electronics and Communication Engineering before earning a master’s degree in Information and Communication Engineering in 2010.
His foray into finance began in 2013 when he established Jacobi, an investment firm leveraging AI algorithms to predict stock movements. Two years later, he launched High-Flyer, an AI-powered hedge fund that managed assets exceeding 100 billion yuan ($13.79 billion) by 2021. However, in April 2023, the firm announced a strategic pivot, stating it would redirect its resources toward exploring the core of artificial general intelligence (AGI). DeepSeek was created a month later.
Unlike many AI founders who aggressively seek external funding, Liang has opted for a different approach. Backed by his own hedge fund, he has made DeepSeek both free and open source, positioning himself as a unique figure in the industry.
DeepSeek and China’s Tech Ambitions
Liang has been vocal about China’s technological trajectory, critiquing what he sees as a lack of genuine innovation.
“For the past 30 years, China’s tech industry has focused solely on making money while neglecting true innovation,” he said in July. “Innovation isn’t just driven by business—it requires curiosity and a drive to create.”
In a speech made in 2019, he posed a rhetorical challenge: “If the U.S. can develop a thriving quantitative trading sector, why can’t China?”
In a rare interview, he addressed the broader AI landscape: “China cannot remain a follower forever. The gap isn’t just one or two years behind the U.S.—it’s a gap between imitation and originality. If that doesn’t change, China will always be a step behind.”
Liang believes DeepSeek’s unexpected success in Silicon Valley stemmed from its role as an innovator rather than just another imitator. “Their surprise comes from seeing a Chinese company enter the game as a pioneer, not just a follower,” he remarked.
DeepSeek’s workforce is primarily composed of graduates and PhD researchers from China’s top universities, drawn by the company’s ambitious mission to tackle AI’s most complex challenges. Liang’s growing influence in the field has even led to invitations to weigh in on Chinese government policy—an indication that Beijing recognizes DeepSeek’s potential to reshape the global AI landscape in China’s favor.
DeepSeek’s Disruptive Impact
DeepSeek’s confirmed high performance—along with its significantly lower data usage and fraction-of-the-cost pricing, as the company claims—triggered a global selloff in tech stocks, underscoring the industry’s reaction to its emergence as a formidable competitor.
Liang’s High-Flyer had already begun integrating AI models into nearly all of its stock positions by 2017, assembling a dedicated research team to develop AI-driven investment strategies. Anticipating the rise of AI, Liang started amassing Nvidia graphics processors for an undisclosed AI project as early as 2021—just before U.S. trade restrictions limited the sale of advanced chips to China.
Despite being founded with just $1.4 million—significantly less than its competitors—DeepSeek has captured the attention of investors and analysts, with many now viewing it as a potential rival to industry giants like Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
As DeepSeek continues to shake up the AI sector, Liang Wenfeng’s vision is clear: China must move beyond imitation and establish itself as a leader in AI innovation. Whether DeepSeek can sustain its momentum remains to be seen, but one thing is certain—Liang has made a bold statement in an industry dominated by Silicon Valley.
