DeepSeek raises $10.3B to build open-source AGI, defying commercialization

DeepSeek, the Chinese AI lab behind the open-source DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3 models, has secured a staggering $10.29 billion in new financing. Founder Liang Wenfeng publicly stated that the company will prioritize open-source development and artificial general intelligence (AGI) research rather than chasing near-term revenue or commercial products. This massive capital injection positions DeepSeek as a major contender against proprietary labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, with a clear strategic bet on transparency and community-driven innovation.

The financing round, one of the largest ever in AI, underscores growing global appetite for open-source models that rival closed-source alternatives. DeepSeek plans to use the funds to scale its computing cluster, hire top researchers, and release multiple new open-weight models over the next two years. Liang emphasized that DeepSeek's goal is not to maximize profits but to democratize access to advanced AI, a stance that resonates with many developers and enterprises wary of vendor lock-in. The news comes as DeepSeek's models have been adopted by thousands of companies worldwide, with performance benchmarks matching or exceeding much costlier proprietary systems.