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DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng has informed potential investors in the startup’s ongoing 70 billion yuan ($10 billion) funding round that the company will prioritize groundbreaking research toward artificial general intelligence (AGI) over short-term commercialization. Liang pledged to maintain the development of open-source models rather than focusing on monetization, contrasting with global peers shifting toward revenue generation. The funding round, which is in its final stages, could value the Chinese AI firm at approximately $45 billion to $50 billion. Prominent potential participants include Tencent Holdings, IDG Capital, Monolith Capital, and Beijing's state-backed National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, the latter of which is in talks to invest 10 billion yuan.