DeepSeek's pricing strategy parallels Costco's approach of deliberately capping markups at about 14% for decades; the low-margin cap creates trust and makes it impossible for competitors to undercut while being profitable themselves, forcing rivals into territory DeepSeek has already made its home.
causalpending
Speaker
Unidentified Speaker — DeepSeek's Invisible Founder Just Talked for 4 Hours. It Le… [BcKQk0NeBV0]Evidence Quote
“Costco has capped its markup at about 14% for decades, and the cap is exactly why people trust the store. Keep margins low on purpose and anyone who wants to undercut you has to live in territory you've already made your home. Deep Seek is running that playbook on AI tokens.”
Created: 8/12/2026, 6:15:41 PM
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