DeepSeek's "Feng Shui Treasure Land" hides the "growth secrets" of China's sci-tech enterprises

On South Academy Road in Haidian District, Beijing, there is a legendary history.

This avenue is home to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of China's top research institutions, and is adjacent to Zhongguancun Street—a hub of technological innovation that has birthed local tech companies like Lenovo.

However, a year ago, an "unknown" tech startup chose this location, renting an office area nearly the size of six standard basketball courts.

One year later, this company has exploded in popularity globally, reaching a stage where "DeepSeek is always mentioned."

What kind of place did DeepSeek choose as its "feng shui treasure land"?

DeepSeek "settles" in a top office building

According to business registration information, one of the operational entities of DeepSeek is named "Beijing DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., Ltd.," established in May 2023, with its registered address at Room XXX, Floor X, Building X, No. 2 South Academy Road, Haidian District, Beijing.

The office building where the DeepSeek team is located is called Rongke Information Center.

According to relevant introductions, Rongke Information Center was designed by a globally renowned design firm and developed according to international standards, adhering to a strategy of leasing only, not selling. Currently, 80% of its tenants are multinational corporations, with nearly ten Fortune 500 companies.

In Beijing, Rongke Information Center is on par with the China World Trade Center and Kerry Center as a top office building.

Attached image: Exterior of Rongke Information Center (Source: Internet, same below)

Office building details exposed

Official data shows that Rongke Information Center mainly consists of three office buildings:

Building A was completed in December 2001, making it the "oldest," with a total area of 49,000 square meters, a single floor area of 4,000 square meters, and a floor height of 2.85 meters, including 6 passenger elevators, 2 freight elevators, and 2 escalators.

Building C was completed in 2004, divided into a north and south building, with a standard floor area of 2,160 square meters and a floor height of 2.7 meters.

Building B, completed in 2015, has a total area of 96,000 square meters, making it the largest single building in Rongke, with a single floor area ranging from 2,278 to 3,560 square meters and a floor height of 2.8 meters.

It is reported that Building B not only is the newest among the three office buildings but also has the most elevators: 15 passenger elevators, 1 VIP elevator, 2 freight elevators, 4 service elevators, and 4 escalators, with a VAV air conditioning system and a PM2.5 elimination system.

DeepSeek's office is located in Building B.

Attached image: Exterior of Rongke Center Building B

Unique Technical Facilities as "Backing"

In addition, only Building B of the Rongke Information Center has obtained LEED certification, which is a global green building certification system that encourages energy-saving, environmentally friendly, and low-carbon building design and operation.

Particularly noteworthy is that the office building in Building B of the Rongke Information Center reportedly has a unique floor network room design that addresses the load-bearing, air conditioning, and power supply issues of the company's internal network construction all at once. It also features a dedicated 24-hour air conditioning cooling system for the server room. Coupled with the exterior wall's breathable glass curtain wall, it provides insulation, energy savings, precise zoning, and more sensitive air conditioning.

As is well known, DeepSeek is famous in China for possessing and effectively utilizing massive computing power. The team has thousands of GPU graphics cards within the Huansquare system.

The unique arrangements for the network room at the office location are clearly a plus.

Renovation Project Started a Year Early

According to publicly available engineering bidding documents at the end of 2023, DeepSeek's office renovation project at the Rongke Information Center covers an area of at least 1,950 square meters (as shown in the image below).

The aforementioned office area is equivalent to about 5.5 standard basketball courts or approximately 280 standard parking spaces.

It is worth noting that DeepSeek was established in May 2023. The move to Rongke is expected around 2024.

"Neighbors" with Many Tech Companies

According to various sources, the Rongke Information Center, where DeepSeek is located, has several well-known tech giants "set up shop" there.

For example, Google's office in Beijing is located in Building B of Rongke, alongside DeepSeek. The BV Baidu Venture Capital department initiated by Baidu is even in a relationship of upstairs and downstairs with DeepSeek.

There were previously industry rumors that Baidu's venture capital company, located above DeepSeek, was unable to invest in DeepSeek, but relevant parties clarified this statement.

Additionally, companies in the Rongke Information Center include Legend Holdings, Texas Instruments (a semiconductor manufacturing company), Advanced Micro Devices, Samsung Semiconductor, Intel, VMware (cloud computing), Megvii Technology, and Guoke Holdings (an investment holding company under the Chinese Academy of Sciences).

Moreover, ByteDance and Innovation Works (a startup incubation platform founded by Kai-Fu Lee) have also previously operated here.

Multi-location Collaborative Office

Interestingly, similar to many quantitative investment institutions, DeepSeek has more than one office location.

Online information indicates that DeepSeek also had another office address in Beijing—at the Internet Financial Center in Haidian District, which is located in a shared office space In addition, another corporate entity of DeepSeek - Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., Ltd. is registered at 169 Huijin International Building, Huan Cheng North Road, Gongshu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

DeepSeek's sister company, Huanfang Quantitative, is also located in this office building, but not in the same building as Hangzhou DeepSeek. The former occupies an entire floor, while the latter's registered information is Room 1201, Building West 1, Huijin International Building, which, at least literally, does not occupy an entire floor.

According to public information, Huijin International Building has a construction area of approximately 158,000 square meters, with about 104,000 square meters above ground, consisting of four 23-story Grade A office buildings and an 8,000 square meter commercial podium. Based on this, the estimated area of each floor is about 2,260 square meters.

Talent + Computing Power

So, why do top tech companies like DeepSeek have multiple offices?

There could be many reasons.

But talent may be a key factor.

The team behind DeepSeek originated in Zhejiang, so a considerable proportion of the team members have historically worked and lived in Hangzhou for a long time.

However, whether it is top tech talent or investment talent, attracting them inevitably requires going to first-tier cities. Thus, Beijing, with its top universities, has become the preferred second office location for tech innovation companies.

Thirdly, companies with significant computing power have higher requirements for supporting facilities related to the environment and energy. Their data centers require sufficient power support, and the region must meet the needs for high-speed internet (especially fiber optic dedicated lines and backup lines), stable power supply, intelligent building systems, and more.

Therefore, the data centers of large domestic quantitative private equity and AI companies are often spread across the country and even the world. Beijing, Shanghai, Hebei, Guizhou, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia, and others are popular locations for data centers.

Of course, the policy dividends for high-tech enterprises in relevant areas (tax incentives, R&D expense subsidies, technology insurance, talent subsidies, and financing support) also play a role.

For a company of DeepSeek's scale, human resources + computing power, culture + mechanisms are essential core elements for entrepreneurship, which also influence the emergence of prime locations