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Inside High-Flyer, the AI hedge fund behind China’s DeepSeek
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China’s quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer has pivoted from AI-powered investing to developing cutting-edge artificial general intelligence (AGI) through its DeepSeek venture, which has gained recognition from Silicon Valley competitors.

Strategic pivot and core mission: High-Flyer, a $13.79 billion AI-powered hedge fund, announced in 2023 that it would redirect its resources toward developing artificial general intelligence through its DeepSeek research group.

  • The company’s official announcement emphasized its commitment to developing AI technology that benefits humanity
  • DeepSeek’s sophisticated AI models have garnered praise from Silicon Valley competitors, marking a first for a Chinese AI model
  • The venture’s claims about efficient computing power usage triggered a global tech sector selloff

Leadership and infrastructure: High-Flyer’s founder Liang Wenfeng leads DeepSeek and has invested heavily in computing infrastructure critical for AI development.

  • The fund built two AI supercomputing clusters using Nvidia A100 chips before U.S. export restrictions
  • The first cluster, completed in 2020, cost 200 million yuan and contained 1,100 A100 chips
  • A second, larger cluster with approximately 10,000 A100 chips was completed in 2021 at a cost of 1 billion yuan

Technical capabilities and controversy: DeepSeek’s computational resources and capabilities have become a subject of industry speculation and debate.

  • DeepSeek claims to use only newer Nvidia H800 and H20 chips for its latest models
  • Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang alleged DeepSeek possesses 50,000 undisclosed Nvidia H100 chips, which would violate U.S. export controls
  • The company’s DeepSeek-V2 model sparked an AI price war in China upon its release in May

Resource challenges: Computing power access, rather than funding, represents the primary obstacle for DeepSeek’s development.

  • Liang acknowledged that U.S. restrictions on high-end chips, not capital, pose the main challenge
  • The company maintains no immediate plans for fundraising or going public
  • High-Flyer and DeepSeek share office space and patent ownership related to AI model training infrastructure

Looking ahead: While DeepSeek’s rapid emergence has captured industry attention, questions remain about its true computing capabilities and the impact of U.S. export controls on its ability to advance toward AGI development.

High-Flyer, the AI quant fund behind China's DeepSeek

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