The identity of the new tech billionaire who was once a 'math prodigy' in a poor rural area

Not long ago, few people knew about Mililing - a quiet village in Tam Ba town, Wuchuan city, Guangdong province (China). But since the beginning of this year, the village has suddenly become a destination for hundreds of visitors every day. They come here to see with their own eyes the birthplace of the 40-year-old man - the founder of DeepSeek, a character considered the new symbol of Chinese artificial intelligence.

Villagers, most of whom have the surname Luong, have opened stalls near his old house to sell sugarcane juice called “Trang Nguyen”, as a way to honor the studious spirit and outstanding intelligence of Luong Van Phong - a hard-working student who rose from a poor rural area like the trang nguyen of old.

A shop selling sugarcane juice to tourists visiting Luong Van Phong's hometown - Mililing village in Guangdong (China). (Photo: SCMP)

From "math prodigy" to "AI boss"

According to SCMP, born in 1985, when China had yet to escape the shadow of the subsidized economy , Luong Van Phong was the son of a primary school teacher.

In 2002, at the age of 17, Liang Wenfeng scored the highest score in the Zhanjiang Region National College Entrance Examination, a feat in aneducation system that is notoriously rigorous, especially in the subjects of Mathematics and Physics. That achievement helped him gain admission to Zhejiang University, which has trained many Chinese technology billionaires.

In 2007, Luong Van Phong studied for a master's degree in Computer Vision, and in 2010, he completed his thesis on object tracking algorithms using cameras, laying the first foundation for his journey in AI research.

Startup and DeepSeek turning point

After graduating from university, Luong Van Phong chose his own path, passing up high-paying jobs at large companies. He and his classmate Xu Jin founded the quantitative investment firm High-Flyer in 2015, which specializes in using algorithms to trade stocks. High-Flyer quickly became one of the top four investment funds in China, managing more than 100 billion yuan.

In 2019, he founded an AI lab. Just a few months after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, Luong decided to spin off the lab into an independent company, DeepSeek, with the mission of developing large language models (LLMs) for China.

From a student in a poor village, Luong Van Phong has become a "hero" in the artificial intelligence world in China. (Photo: Weibo)

DeepSeek has not only succeeded, but has also made Silicon Valley and Wall Street (USA) wary. With the V3 platform model released in December 2024 and the R1 inference model released in January 2025, DeepSeek has risen to become one of the leading units in the field of AI in China.

Even giants like Alibaba and Tencent are lining up to integrate DeepSeek’s technology into their products. Some other startups have announced that they will stop researching their own models to switch to using DeepSeek’s technology.

Unlike many other tech leaders, Luong Van Phong has chosen to live a low-key life. He has little presence on social media, rarely appears in public, and has declined invitations to speak internationally—including at the AI Summit in Paris. His only rare appearance was when he shook hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit in February.

While it remains to be seen whether DeepSeek can continue to innovate, Liang Wenfeng—who was trained entirely domestically—has become an inspiration to China's younger generation.

Luong Van Phong’s story appears on a poster at the elementary school where he studied, with the introduction saying that he started studying university-level mathematics in high school. At Ngo Xuyen High School No. 1, where Luong Van Phong studied for 6 years, students choose to study natural sciences or social sciences from grade 10. Of these, 20 out of 28 classes in grade 11 focus on science subjects such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

Teachers here often mention Luong Van Phong as a role model to encourage hard-working students. For students, every time they take the Literature exam, which includes an essay writing section, many say they will definitely use the DeepSeek founder as a typical example to illustrate the themes of determination, perseverance, and overcoming adversity.

(Source: Vietnamnet)

Link: https://vietnamnet.vn/danh-tinh-cua-ty-phu-cong-nghe-moi-tung-la-than-dong-toan-hoc-o-vung-que-ngheo-2392995.html

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/danh-tinh-cua-ty-phu-cong-nghe-moi-tung-la-than-dong-toan-hoc-o-vung-que-ngheo-ar946025.html