CNBC: DeepSeek Reportedly Required Investors to Sign Anti-Poaching Clauses Barring Recruitment of Its Engineers

CNBC reports that DeepSeek reportedly required investors in its first external funding round to sign anti-poaching agreements barring them from recruiting the company's engineers, a condition adding to constraints that already include China's state AI fund receiving sole voting rights. The clause reflects growing concern about talent flight after a core V3 model contributor left to lead Xiaomi's MiMo AI team, which has since outperformed DeepSeek on several benchmarks. The anti-poaching provision reveals how China's most prominent AI lab is structuring investor relationships to protect human capital even as it opens to outside capital for the first time.