Deepseek pursues $45 billion valuation while founder prioritizes AGI research over short-term profits

Deepseek is on the verge of a 70 billion yuan funding round that could value the startup at around $45 billion. Founder Liang Wenfeng told investors he is putting basic AI research and AGI development ahead of short-term profits, and plans to keep building open-source models.

Expected investors include China's state-owned National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund with about 10 billion yuan, along with Tencent, IDG Capital, and Monolith Capital. The talks are still ongoing and details could change.

Deepseek is working on 'Deepseek Code,' a potential competitor to Claude Code. The startup's valuation remains modest compared to OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which are approaching the trillion-dollar mark.