The city of Hangzhou in southern China is one of the country’s leading technology hubs, and home to the groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek.
Think of Hangzhou as a Chinese version of Silicon Valley.
The headquarters of DeepSeek is on the twelfth floor of a modern office building.
The headquarters of DeepSeek are on the twelfth floor of a modern office building
Security guard Mr Ma says for the last two weeks the lobby has been packed with people hoping to get a glimpse of the elusive founder of DeepSeek, Liang Wenfeng.
“For now, we as Chinese are happy and proud, but the future is uncertain,” Mr Ma says.
Chinese vloggers, tech jobseekers, journalists and members of the public have dropped in to try and visit the company, but it is keeping a low profile.
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Who will win the AI battle?
We were told by security that Liang Wenfeng hasn’t been in the office for the last few days.
He has gone to ground since DeepSeek hit the headlines.
The company shocked the world when it launched its latest AI model and announced it had built it for less than $6m and without using the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips.
If this is true, it has upended the prevailing view that China was well behind in the AI race.
The front entrance to the office block where DeepSeek has a floor
DeepSeek appears to have made tremendous strides in AI and the Chinese government is also paying attention.
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Liang Wenfeng met China’s premier Li Qiang on the day the AI app was launched, 20 January.
DeepSeek is exactly the type of innovative company and culture China has been pushing for under a policy it calls “new productive forces.”
Security at the DeepSeek HQ say Liang Wenfeng hasn’t been in the office for the last few days
Most of China’s upstart tech companies are heavily subsidised by local governments.
However, DeepSeek is funded by Mr Liang’s hedge fund company High Flyer.
Hangzhou is home to dozens of high-tech companies, the most famous are referred to as the “six little dragons”.
One of these is Deep Robotics. It develops robot dogs and is the first Chinese company to deploy its canines overseas (to Singapore) for industrial use.
Deep Robotics brand manager Vera Huang told Sky News: “Hangzhou places great emphasis on the cultivation of technological talent, with excellent institutions like Zhejiang University.”
Ms Huang says the government helps businesses develop, and if they achieve so-called “Little Giant” status they are eligible for state funding.
The US is alarmed at China’s AI progress and prowess. It has tried to stymie its development by placing export controls on the most advanced semi-conductor chips.
But DeepSeek has found a workaround and says it built its model with legacy chips.
US President Donald Trump said DeepSeek’s development was a “wake-up call”.
Well the world has woken up. What’s unclear is how it will respond.
