DeepSeek Founder: Prioritizing AGI, Top Models to Remain Open Source
Taylor Wilson
DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng told investors the company will prioritize AGI over profit and keep its most advanced models open-source. This means → the firm that shook up global AI competition is not pivoting to a closed model anytime soon.
AGI first, open-source stays — what exactly did Liang say?
In an investor meeting lasting roughly four hours, Liang Wenfeng said DeepSeek will put developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) above profit maximization.
He stressed that open-source development and commercial monetization are not mutually exclusive — the company intends to pursue both.
This means → the global attention sparked by the open-source V3 and R1 models was no accident — open-source is a strategic commitment, not a transitional phase.
What is the biggest bottleneck?
Liang named compute power as the single largest constraint, noting the key gap with the U.S. lies in resource access, not technical capability itself.
He said DeepSeek plans to build large-scale AI compute clusters but has not decided whether to develop its own chips.
His words: "I'd like to buy chips at a reasonable price so I don't have to make them myself."
In plain terms = buy if possible, build only if forced — in-house chip development is a fallback, not a priority.
Why did the first funding round break precedent?
DeepSeek recently closed its first external funding round at a valuation of roughly $52 billion, ending years of refusing outside capital.
The backdrop: sustained competitive pressure from ByteDance, Moonshot AI, and Zhipu AI.
This reflects a reality — even with a technical lead, the intensity of competition has forced DeepSeek to make concessions on the capital front.
How real is the export-control pressure?
Liang's chip remarks underscore the practical weight of U.S. export controls — Washington has already restricted sales of some of the most advanced AI chips to China.
Yet according to Reuters, the U.S. has not placed DeepSeek on a trade blacklist so far, seeking to avoid escalating U.S.–China tensions.
This means → whether compute access holds up will be the critical variable for DeepSeek's AGI roadmap.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.