Until recently, DeepSeek were self-financed (it was a spin-out from a hedge fund). They just raised ~50million RMB (US$7bn), and according to media [0] (which admittedly can be unreliable), the lead investors were:

1) The CEO himself 2) Tencent 3) CALT (the battery company) 4) NetEase (internet/media company) 5) JD.com (ecommerce) 6) Chinese investment firms

What are they expecting in return? I'd say the same thing that all those investors in OpenAI and Anthropic are expecting - profit.

[0] https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/vcpe/2026-06-11/doc-iniazi...

I don't think this question would get to the reason. There could be one or two persons in charge who simply shape the culture of the company, including how much to publish.

They are self financed, the company that makes DeepSeek is a finance company that trades on the markets.

IMHO to promote that China believes in free markets and making the technology available to all.

Which will likely help them bolster the sales of the MANY new AI chips in development/use in China to international markets. Dislodging Nvidia.

Kinda the opposite of what Jensen Huang (Nvidia) thinks US is doing: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u3SY8nvjhQA

Edit: I'm a fan of deepseek and believe it's good to make the technology open/available. And do think that also help business - which I support as well.

Edit 2: No idea why I'm getting downvoted. That's also their official stance https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202601/08/content_WS695f1b55...

Short AI companies

???

Profit!

Not suggesting this is it, but you know, one possible angle.