DeepSeek founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng has remained largely out of public view since a televised meeting with President Xi Jinping in February last year, the South China Morning Post reported. Company filings show Liang’s stake rose to 34 percent from 1 percent, while paid-in and registered capital increased. At the same time, senior researcher Chen Deri has increasingly delivered DeepSeek’s external messages, including around the launch of its V4 AI model.

Design house (DSP) companies that once focused on outsourced semiconductor design are expanding in both contract pricing and funding scale as AI chip mass production becomes harder with foundry steps alone after 2-nanometre nodes. With physical limits nearing, 2.5D and 3D stacking and chiplets are becoming key, making advanced packaging and interconnect new battlegrounds. Firms are shifting toward integrated design platforms and infrastructure architecture partnerships, alongside rising high-value project shares and larger financings.