'Pride of His Hometown': Who Is DeepSeek Founder Liang Wenfeng? What to Know About the 40-Year Old Billionaire

Feb 05, 2025 03:02 AM - 3 days ago 4052

When 40-year-old Liang Wenfeng, laminitis of the tech world's latest AI star, DeepSeek, returned to his location colony successful the confederate Chinese state of Guangdong for Lunar New Year's Eve celebrations past week, he was given a hero's welcome.

The colony honored him pinch a reddish banner that said, "Warm congratulations for becoming the pridefulness of his hometown," according to a translated type of the banner.

Wenfeng's fame is partially owed to his AI startup, DeepSeek, which rattled U.S. tech stocks erstwhile it skyrocketed to the apical of app stores past period (it's still topping iPhone charts) aft claiming that its latest AI exemplary matched aliases surpassed AI from manufacture leaders for illustration OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google—but astatine a fraction of the cost.

While AI from startups for illustration Anthropic tin cost $100 million to develop, DeepSeek claims its AI costs little than $6 million for the aforesaid functionality.

Related: DeepSeek AI Cost Less Than $6 Million to Develop. Here's Why Meta and Microsoft Are Justifying Spending Billions.

Liang Wenfeng. Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Wenfeng was already celebrated successful Guangdong earlier DeepSeek. He became a billionaire aft establishing the hedge money High-Flyer successful 2015, which exceeded 100 cardinal yuan (close to $14 billion) successful assets nether guidance by 2021. He is now worthy astatine slightest $1 billion, according to Forbes.

Residents of his hometown told the Financial Times that arsenic a kid he was a "top student" who publication comic books and excelled successful math.

"We each grew up successful this village," 1 resident told the publication. "We're very proud of him."

Who is Liang Wenfeng?

Wenfeng was calved successful 1985 and was a straight-A student successful school, per the Wall Street Journal.

Before founding DeepSeek, Wenfeng pursued an acquisition successful engineering. According to The New York Times, he has a method inheritance successful AI engineering and wrote his 2010 thesis connected improving AI surveillance systems astatine Zhejiang University, a nationalist assemblage successful Hangzhou, China. He graduated from Zhejiang pinch a master's grade successful accusation and connection engineering.

Related: OpenAI Says AI Industry Disruptor DeepSeek May Have Copied Its Work arsenic Rivals Race to Catch Up

Wenfeng founded the hedge money High-Flyer successful June 2015 astatine the property of 30, per the Chinese publication QQ.com. He and his squad were wished to usage mathematics and AI to present beardown results for clients.

High-Flyer knowledgeable regulatory pressures from 2019 to 2023, starring the squad to attraction much connected AI arsenic a broadside task and build computing systems pinch Nvidia graphics cards. Wenfeng officially founded DeepSeek successful July 2023. The AI institution became much of a attraction for him aft High-Flyer had to unopen down its superior finance merchandise successful February 2024, per The Times.

In a 2023 interview pinch Chinese tech publication 36KR, Wenfeng said that DeepSeek's extremity was wide artificial intelligence, aliases AI that surpasses quality cognitive abilities. He besides said that AI startups were well-positioned to compete pinch established companies.

"The marketplace is changing," Wenfeng told the publication according to an English-translated version of his remarks, which were primitively made successful Chinese. "The existent decisive unit is often not immoderate ready-made rules and conditions, but the expertise to accommodate and set to changes."

Related: Is DeepSeek the Worst Nightmare for VCs? Venture Investors Are Rattled, But Some See a Silver Lining

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