0 views
Chinese AI developer DeepSeek is close to raising at least $12 billion in a new funding round, far beyond its original target, as investor demand for a stake in the country’s best-known AI challenger continues to build. The round, expected to close this month, would set the company up for a possible stock market listing in early 2027.
Tencent and battery maker CATL are reported to be among the largest backers. DeepSeek had initially sought around 50 billion yuan, but interest surged after the release of its latest model, and signed commitments could push the total towards 100 billion yuan. The company was valued at roughly $74 billion before the round.
It is a striking change of scale for a lab that first drew global attention by releasing capable open models built with far fewer chips than rivals assumed necessary. That shoestring reputation has given way to national-champion status, with the new capital expected to fund a major expansion of computing infrastructure, including a large data centre project in Inner Mongolia.
The fundraising lands in the middle of an intensifying contest. A US startup, Reflection AI, this week unveiled a large open-weight model explicitly pitched as a Western answer to Chinese labs, underlining how the race has shifted from model releases alone to a competition over capital, chips and infrastructure.
DeepSeek has reportedly hired advisers to prepare a listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market, possibly in 2027, though the timing is not fixed. Rival Moonshot AI is also said to be eyeing an early-2027 debut. Whether regulators’ reported data-security interest delays either plan remains an open question for investors pricing the round.
