Behind the Money with the Financial Times

The story behind DeepSeek’s breakthrough

Behind the Money with the Financial Times

Published: 19 February 2025 at 05:00 UTC

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Episode notes

This January, DeepSeek made an announcement that changed the artificial intelligence landscape. The Chinese start-up said that it had trained the latest in a series of competitive AI models, which appeared to be built much more cheaply than those of Silicon Valley competitors. The FT’s China Technology Correspondent, Eleanor Olcott, first wrote a story about the company last summer. She’s on today to discuss how DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng was able to finance and grow his company at a time when start-up funding is scarce in China, and often comes with too many strings attached.

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For further reading:

Liang Wenfeng, the DeepSeek founder panicking the tech world

The global AI race: is China catching up to the US?

Xi Jinping seizes DeepSeek moment to restore China tech chiefs to spotlight

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Follow Eleanor Olcott on X (@EleanorOlcott). Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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