The artificial intelligence (AI) world saw a critical change in 2025 when DeepSeek launched as a new Chinese startup that started commanding attention after its debut in 2023. This piece examines DeepSeek, from its operation, key facts, major data, and its comparison to OpenAI.

What is DeepSeek?

  1. Founding and Leadership: DeepSee is an open-source large language model development company created by Liang Wenfeng in 2023. (Source: Reuters)
  2. Company Headquarters: The Chinese artificial intelligence company operates under the official name Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd. and maintains headquarters in Hangzhou China. (Source: Wikipedia)
  3. Company Size: The company has achieved important milestones with its staff of below 200 employees. (Source: Wikipedia)

Key DeepSeek statistics

  1. Efficient Development: The development pace for the DeepSeek-R1 AI model reached two months and its creation cost less than 6 million dollars through the deployment of Nvidia H800 chips. The frugal innovation framework led to quick and budget-friendly development thus earning widespread praise. (Source: Reuters)
  2. App Store Success: DeepSeek launched its first free chatbot application which supported both iOS and Android operating systems. The free application surpassed ChatGPT and became the most popular download available through the U.S. iOS App Store on January 27, 2025. (Source: The Atlantic)
  3. Global Impact: Several analysts recognize DeepSeek as an important influence that can threaten American AI models in their worldwide dominance. (Source: Reuters)
  4. Open-Source Approach: DeepSeek makes open-source models available for unrestricted modification and unrestricted use while many U.S. companies maintain proprietary control over their models. (Source: 
  5. Market Reaction: The R1 model’s success at DeepSeek caused Nvidia and other tech companies to witness substantial drops in their stock prices because of the disruptive potential of DeepSeek’s technology. (Source: Reuters)

DeepSeek registered user statistics

  1. While there are no official data, Deepseek has approximately 5-6 million users worldwide during January 2025 as estimated through the company’s 2.6 million app acquisitions and 7 million daily Google query peak. (Source: SEO AI)

DeepSeek download statistics

  1. The download numbers for Deep Seek exceeded 10 million by January 2025. (Source: Google Play)
  2. Nearly 40% of DeepSeek users were based in China while the United States represented 16% of all DeepSeek software users. (Source: Business of Apps)
DeepSeek downloads by country statistics

DeepSeek downloads by country statistics

CountryUsers (%)
China39%
United States16%
India10%
South Korea7%
Russia6%
France4%
United Kingdom3%
Brazil3%
Germany3%

Source: Business of Apps

DeepSeek vs OpenAI Comparison

  1. Development Cost: The cost of developing DeepSeek-R1 reached under $6 million but OpenAI’s GPT-4 development needed around $100 million. (Source: Reuters)
  2. Performance Benchmarks: DeepSeek-R1 achieved better results than OpenAI’s model during two of five coding tests where it led in LiveCodeBench (65.9% vs. 63.4%) and SWE Verified (49.2% vs. 48.9%). (Source: Demandsage)
  3. Market Impact: DeepSeek-R1’s introduction caused major tech corporations to suffer substantial stock slide which demonstrates the disruptive nature of this innovative technology. (Source: The Atlantic)
  4. The open-source DeepSeek-V3 model contains 671B parameters which uses Mixture-of-Experts architecture and activates 37B parameters per token. It implements new load distribution methods coupled with multiple token prediction capabilities while using 14.8T tokens for training. (Source: Docsbot)

Conclusion

The year 2025 established DeepSeek as an industry-changing technology within artificial intelligence. The open-source framework, budget-friendly development, and exceptional operation of DeepSeek establish it as an industrial disruptor while bringing endless possibilities for modern innovation. 

The platform allows users to observe features simultaneously providing support through growth initiatives that define the evolution direction of AI.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The development process of DeepSeek costs less than ChatGPT does while showing a minor advantage in chosen benchmark tests. Its open-source nature provides DeepSeek with an exclusive advantage.

DeepSeek achieves its main function through natural language processing by enabling the creation of chatbots alongside content production and programming support capabilities. The AI software enables model deployment for various fields encompassing technology and education.

DeepSeek emerges from the mind of its Chinese founder Liang Wenfeng who now directs AI innovation at the company.

DeepSeek delivers its chatbot application at no cost which makes high-level artificial intelligence capabilities obtainable to a broader spectrum of users. The company makes its models available through open-source access allowing developers to work with them.

The open and unavailable AI models from DeepSeek need basic security precautions as part of its responsible AI approach to stop destructive content generation and misuse of their platform.