In a tech landscape dominated by global headlines and outspoken CEOs, Liang Wenfeng stands out—not for his visibility, but for his profound impact behind the scenes. The low-profile founder of DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence platform based in Hangzhou, China, has quietly become one of the most influential figures in Asia’s tech sector.
Liang’s journey into AI wasn’t conventional. Originally a quantitative hedge fund manager, he shifted gears to enter the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence. What started as a passion project soon turned into a disruptive force. His company, DeepSeek, launched a ChatGPT-style app that rapidly gained popularity across China—so much so that its unexpected surge in usage temporarily crashed Tencent’s WeChat servers earlier this year.
Under Liang’s leadership, DeepSeek now serves more than 100 million users, a number that reflects both the hunger for AI-powered tools in China and the technical excellence of his platform. The app’s user base has grown so fast that it helped trigger a nearly 40% rise in Hong Kong’s tech stock index, according to a report by The Australian.
Despite his wealth and influence, Liang prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Colleagues describe him as deeply analytical, disciplined, and intensely focused on innovation over media attention. His belief in AI as a transformative tool isn’t just theoretical—it’s embedded in every feature of DeepSeek’s design, which includes tools for writing, coding, summarizing, and business productivity.
Liang emphasizes that the rise of Chinese AI companies is about more than technology—it’s about mindset. In a rare public comment, he stated, “Innovation is not about resources alone—it is, first and foremost, a matter of belief.” That belief has inspired a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs who now see domestic AI ventures not only as viable but potentially world-leading.
As the West continues to dominate narratives around OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind, Liang Wenfeng is quietly building a competitive ecosystem in Asia—one that’s already reshaping how users engage with AI on a daily basis.
In a world full of noise, Liang Wenfeng’s quiet brilliance is speaking loud and clear.
