Born in 1980 in Wuchuan, Guangdong Province (China), Mr. Liang Wenfeng was the valedictorian of the Electronic Information Engineering major at Zhejiang University in 2002. According to his classmates, he is a hard-working, modest person with a passion for experimental research.
DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based startup founded by Liang Wenfeng and owned by hedge fund High-Flyer, is known for its use of artificial intelligence in trading strategies. In 2021, he began purchasing thousands of Nvidia graphics chips for his AI projects. By 2022, High-Flyer’s AI division claimed to have a cluster of 10,000 Nvidia A100 chips, laying the foundation for groundbreaking AI models.
On January 20, 2025, DeepSeek released its R1 model, which benchmarked better than OpenAI’s paid version and cost significantly less. For example, R1 cost just $5.6 million to develop, compared to hundreds of millions of dollars spent by other tech companies. This has led experts to question the true value of companies that rely on expensive GPUs, like Nvidia. In recent trading, Nvidia shares fell as much as 24%, marking their worst day since March 2020.
DeepSeek’s success has not only shaken the market but also attracted attention from the government and the tech industry. Before the launch of the R1 model, Liang Wenfeng attended a closed-door conference chaired by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, which brought together outstanding individuals in the field of AI. This shows DeepSeek’s strategic role in the national artificial intelligence ecosystem.
One key factor that sets DeepSeek apart is its use of open source code. This not only reduces computational costs, but also opens up opportunities for other companies to use DeepSeek’s technology to improve their AI models, according to analyst Phelix Lee. This could be a strategic move to reduce dependence on traditional hardware vendors and spur technological innovation.
Although DeepSeek has not launched commercially and is not under financial pressure from shareholders, the company is changing the way the AI industry views costs and efficiency. Liang Wenfeng has not only created a successful startup but also opened a new direction for global artificial intelligence.
