DeepSeek has not raised external funding to date, in part to avoid investor pressure to commercialize its products too quickly. But since the company’s AI chatbot app became an overnight sensation a few weeks ago, the company has considered external financing as it needs more AI chips and servers to cope with the rapidly growing usage and support model development, according to people familiar with the internal discussions. In addition to discussing whether to raise funds, executives at DeepSeek and its hedge fund parent company, Magic Square Quant, are also discussing whether they should shift from focusing primarily on research to building a business that can generate substantial revenue and ultimately make a profit, according to people familiar with the matter. It is reported that DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng remains cautious about external fundraising.