DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence company that develops large language models (LLMs). It was founded in July 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, who also co-founded the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, which owns and funds DeepSeek. Wenfeng serves as the CEO for both companies. DeepSeek is based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The company operates as an independent AI research lab. DeepSeek has a unique management culture that fosters innovation.
DeepSeek released its first model, DeepSeek Coder, in November 2023. In January 2025, the company launched its DeepSeek chatbot, based on the DeepSeek-R1 model. DeepSeek's models are described as "open weight," meaning the exact parameters are openly shared. The company's DeepSeek-V3 model was trained for approximately $6 million, significantly less than the $100 million reportedly spent on OpenAI's GPT-4 in 2023. DeepSeek is expected to launch its next-generation flagship model V4 in mid-February 2026.
