DeepSeek CEO has previously said that their finance team considers the optimal payback period for hardware purchase to be 10 months. That is, 10 months worth of revenue should be equal to the purchase price of the hardware. This doesn’t cover operational costs such as electricity. This is their method for API pricing.
Source: https://x.com/FuckAnthropic/article/2080268590033621295 (it’s a leaked meeting transcript so take it with a grain of salt)