DeepSeek has shifted a portion of its AI inference workloads to NVIDIA gaming GPUs to alleviate compute shortages and free up high-end hardware. This strategy allows the firm to dedicate 70% of its total compute capacity to training and 30% to inference, utilizing consumer-grade chips for smaller models. The company's annualized revenue recently crossed $1 billion, an increase from under $500 million a few months ago, accompanied by API price hikes of 2.3x to 4.5x and a gross margin of 82.9% through July.

The AI developer is finalizing or has completed a $7.5 billion funding round at a valuation of roughly $74 billion to $75 billion, with a target close date by the end of October. To support this expansion and a potential initial public offering on the STAR Market, the company appointed former Hillhouse Capital partner Yan Wentao as its first chief financial officer on Sept. 21.