DeepSeek secures ¥1.2 trillion funding and launches large‑scale hiring drive

Chinese artificial‑intelligence startup DeepSeek announced the completion of a 510 billion‑yuan (about ¥1.2 trillion) external funding round, its first outside investment. Founder Liang Wenfeng, who retains roughly 90 % of the company, is backing the raise that could value the firm around $45 billion, according to reports from the Financial Times and Bloomberg.

Following the financing, DeepSeek said it will double the size of all its divisions, launching a hiring campaign for 116 positions, more than 80 % of which are technical roles such as large‑model training, AI agents, search and inference architecture. Salaries for senior AI researchers are set at 70,000‑100,000 yuan a month (about ¥1.7‑2.4 million per year). The company highlights its efficient, open‑weight models that achieve performance comparable to leading US systems while using far fewer computing resources, aligning with China’s broader push for AI self‑reliance. Investors expected to participate include the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund and major cloud players Tencent and Alibaba.