BEIJING: Before DeepSeek shook up the tech world and put Chinese artificial intelligence on the map, Wu Chenglin&rsquo;s own startup had nearly folded three times &mdash; but in the past year, it has raised $30 million. The January 2025 release of a low-cost generative AI model from DeepSeek, which performed at a similar level to <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/openai-introducing-ads-to-chatgpt" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 115, 230);">ChatGPT </a>and other top American chatbots,&nbsp;upended assumptions of US dominance in the sensitive sector. The breakthrough has galvanised China&rsquo;s AI scene, despite relations with the United States and fears of a global market bubble. &ldquo;It gave a lot of people confidence&rdquo; that China&rsquo;s AI community previously lacked, Wu told AFP. His venture, DeepWisdom, whose flagship product is an AI-powered software development platform, had struggled to stay afloat despite its popularity among programmers. But as excitement around DeepSeek fuelled a spending boom, Wu raised 220 million yuan in two funding rounds. Meanwhile, Shi Yaqiong and her team at Beijing-based Jinqiu Capital have closed deals with more than 50 AI firms over the past 12 months. Shi, the fund&rsquo;s vice-president, described a &ldquo;clear surge&rdquo; in enthusiasm around Chinese AI and competition among investors since the DeepSeek shock. &ldquo;The kind of projects with an initial valuation in 2024 of $10-20 million were, in 2025, expected to have initial valuations around $20-40 million,&rdquo; she said. Engineer dividendShares in two leading Chinese AI startups, Zhipu AI and MiniMax, soared on their Hong Kong market debuts this month. Frenzy over the much-hyped <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/asian-markets-bounce-as-nvidia-takes-centre-stage-amid-ai-bubble-fears" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176);" rel="noopener noreferrer">potential of AI </a>to change the world is driving global stocks to record highs, led by chipmakers and<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/meta-partners-with-us-nuclear-companies-to-power-ai-data-centers" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;tech giants</a>. But the big-spending euphoria has sparked fears of a market crash, with many investors hyper-focused on any sign the AI bubble could burst and questioning when new companies will become profitable. Access to top-end chips made by <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-us-will-allow-sale-of-nvidia-ai-chips-to-china" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176);" rel="noopener noreferrer">US giant Nvidia</a> is also restricted in China under White House policies aimed at curbing China&rsquo;s technological development. But that hasn&rsquo;t dampened the spirits of young developers in the world&rsquo;s second-largest economy. At an AI networking event held last week on a brisk winter afternoon in a stylish Beijing cafe, animated discussion filled the air about the future of the fast-moving industry. Chip export controls mean Chinese AI is more likely to be &ldquo;open-source and cheap&rdquo;, which could make it more useful to society, said one participant, entrepreneur Li Weijia. China is often said to enjoy an &ldquo;engineer dividend&rdquo; that benefits its AI sector, and talent is flocking to the field. Online hiring platform Zhilian Zhaopin reported a 39% increase in applications to AI-related jobs in the first three quarters of 2025, after DeepSeek&rsquo;s breakout. &lsquo;Cost-efficient&rsquo;&ldquo;China has a huge application developer ecosystem, and people are very good at building apps,&rdquo; Shen Qiajin, founder of ideaFlow, told AFP. &ldquo;But for a very long time, we didn&rsquo;t have a good, cost-efficient model,&rdquo; he said. That is a gap DeepSeek has now filled. The firm began in 2023 as a side project of a data-driven hedge fund co-founded in the tech hub Hangzhou by Liang Wenfeng, which had access to a cache of powerful Nvidia processors. Today, the company &mdash; expected to release its next AI model within weeks &mdash; holds 4% of the global chatbot market share, according to web traffic analysis company Similarweb. ChatGPT dominates at 68 percent, while Google&rsquo;s Gemini is catching up at 18%, according to Similarweb estimates. DeepSeek&rsquo;s decision to make its systems&rsquo; inner workings public, in contrast to the closed AI models sold by OpenAI and other Western rivals, has boosted adoption of its tools by developers and businesses, said Neil Shah at&nbsp; Counterpoint ResearchIts tools have had &ldquo;strong adoption in cost-sensitive emerging markets&rdquo;, he said. But in the West, users are more cautious, &ldquo;primarily on account of privacy and national security concerns&rdquo;. Even so, the domestic market is huge. By June 2025, more than half a billion Chinese internet users reported having used generative AI products, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. Entrepreneur Yang Yiwen said her parents had their first meaningful encounter with AI during last year&rsquo;s Chinese New Year, when they watched her use DeepSeek to plan a family trip. &ldquo;They found it quite fun,&rdquo; she said.

Artificial Intelligence

Before DeepSeek shook up the tech world and put Chinese artificial intelligence on the map, Wu Chenglin’s own startup had nearly folded three times — but in the past year it has raised $30 million.

Articles tagged with "Deepseek"

Inside China's buzzing AI scene year after DeepSeek shock