AI Briefing"Don't Poach Our People": Chinese AI Giant DeepSeek Demands of Investors
Key point
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek secured its first outside funding at a $50 billion valuation, on the condition that investors refrain from recruiting its core talent.
Details
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek recently completed its first round of outside funding, worth roughly $7.4 billion (about 10 trillion won), achieving a valuation of over $50 billion. In the process, founder Liang Wenfeng reportedly set an unusual condition for investors: do not poach DeepSeek employees or encourage them to start their own companies.
This unconventional condition reflects the fierce AI talent war among China's Big Tech companies. DeepSeek had previously turned down outside investment in order to focus on research rather than commercialization, but recently moved to raise funds after key researchers left for competitors.
In fact, after Luo Fuli, a key contributor at DeepSeek, moved to Xiaomi's MiMo team, that team's model went on to surpass DeepSeek's benchmark performance. In addition, Tencent invested $20 million in a newly established AI lab to recruit a researcher from Alibaba, illustrating how the competition to secure talent amid the battle for AI dominance in China is intensifying.
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