DeepSeek reportedly close to completing at least 80 billion yuan funding round, Tencent and CATL among largest investors, IT Home reports
Reported by IT Home · not yet confirmed by the company or a second independent outlet. We update this page when it is.
DeepSeek is close to completing a funding round of at least 80 billion yuan, with Tencent and CATL among the largest investors, IT Home reported citing people familiar with the matter. The round could approach 100 billion yuan, exceeding the initial target of about 50 billion yuan.
China context
- Original name
- 深度求索
- Outside China
- Not stated in the sources yet
- Claims
- Company-reported; not yet independently evaluated
- For builders
- If the funding round closes, DeepSeek may accelerate model releases and infrastructure expansion, potentially affecting API pricing and availability for developers outside China.
- For investors
- The reported funding round and IPO plans indicate strong investor appetite for Chinese AI companies, but outside-China investors should verify regulatory and market access conditions.
Translated from Chinese. Quotes and facts link to the original sources.
DeepSeek is nearing completion of a funding round of at least 80 billion yuan, with Tencent and CATL among the largest investors, according to IT Home citing people familiar with the matter. The final total could approach 100 billion yuan, well above the initial target of about 50 billion yuan. The funding is intended to pave the way for a planned IPO in early 2027. DeepSeek is also building a large data center in Inner Mongolia with at least 160,000 Huawei high-end AI accelerator chips.
The evidence mentions DeepSeek's V4-Flash model, which reportedly reshaped industry perceptions of cost-performance and can compete with Anthropic and OpenAI. The company is building a data center in Inner Mongolia with at least 160,000 Huawei high-end AI accelerator chips, potentially one of the largest Huawei AI chip clusters. DeepSeek has also released software co-developed with Huawei for AI chip programming.
DeepSeek's funding round, if completed, would give it substantial capital to expand compute infrastructure and compete with global AI leaders, potentially affecting pricing and availability of AI services for developers and enterprises. The reported participation of Tencent and CATL signals strategic alignment between major Chinese tech and industrial players and a leading AI lab.
The funding would provide DeepSeek with resources to scale its infrastructure and model development, potentially strengthening its position in the Chinese and global AI market. The reported IPO plan for early 2027 could create a significant liquidity event for investors and affect valuations of other Chinese AI startups.
The next verifiable signals are the official announcement of the funding round closing, the final amount raised, and any regulatory filings related to the planned IPO in early 2027. The progress of the Inner Mongolia data center and the number of Huawei chips deployed can be tracked through company disclosures or satellite imagery.