DeepSeek Reaches $60 Billion Valuation by Ditching Tech’s ‘996’ Overtime Culture
Founder Liang Wenfeng rejects performance targets and strict schedules, allocating half of employee working hours to self-directed research.
Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has surged to a $60 billion valuation and accumulated roughly 173 million downloads since launching publicly in January 2025, operating under a management model that explicitly rejects performance tracking, mandatory overtime, and strict corporate hierarchies.
In a discussion session with employees transcribed and released by Tencent Technology, founder Liang Wenfeng explained that the enterprise relies on an open research atmosphere rather than high-pressure management. Liang, whose personal wealth is valued at approximately $37.9 billion, stated that DeepSeek functions without formal Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), written rulebooks, or documented targets.
Under the startup’s internal structure, formal assignments consume no more than half of an employee’s workday. The remaining 50 percent is entirely unallocated, giving staff full autonomy to explore self-directed initiatives without managerial oversight. According to Liang, breakthrough research demands a relaxed setting and a narrow scope rather than artificial deadline pressure.
This managerial stance stands in sharp contrast to the historically dominant working norms of China’s technology ecosystem, characterized by the “996” schedule—working from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., six days a week, totaling 72 hours weekly. Major firms such as Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com long credited long working hours for their commercial expansion, with Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma famously describing the schedule as a “great blessing” in 2019.
China’s Supreme People’s Court officially outlawed 996 work schedules in 2021, yet intense workplace expectations have persisted across the sector. Pervasive burnout has led many young professionals to abandon corporate technology roles for lower-paying manual labor, while others have opted out of the labor force entirely alongside rising youth unemployment. For details on regional employment legalities, consult authoritative labor regulation standards.
At the same time DeepSeek scales back administrative control, several Silicon Valley venture capitalists and global tech founders are advocating for increased workplace intensity to keep pace in the artificial intelligence sector. VCs including 20VC founder Harry Stebbings and Index Ventures partner Martin Mignot have publicly asserted that seven-day workweeks and 996-style models are essential to remain competitive, building on arguments raised by Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz in 2018.
Some industry operators have even begun evaluating employment contract clauses that would mandate 72-hour workweeks to maintain developer velocity. Liang, however, maintains that DeepSeek’s fluid, consensus-driven environment led by ordinary researchers remains the foundation of its technical trajectory.
