DeepSeek Nears $12 Billion Funding Round Led by Tencent and CATL as Chinese AI Giant Eyes Early 2027 IPO
Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek is closing in on a funding round of at least 80 billion yuan; approximately $12 billion with Tencent Holdings and battery giant CATL among the lead investors, according to Bloomberg.
The raise significantly surpasses DeepSeek’s original target of 50 billion yuan, with the total potentially reaching 100 billion yuan, reflecting a surge in investor confidence following the company’s recent AI model releases. DeepSeek has attracted global attention for producing high-performance AI models at a fraction of the cost of Western rivals, disrupting assumptions about the compute requirements of frontier AI development.
The funds will be directed towards expanding computing infrastructure, accelerating AI model development, and growing the company’s engineering team. DeepSeek is also laying the groundwork for an initial public offering planned for early 2027.
The investment round positions DeepSeek as one of the most heavily capitalised private AI companies in the world and underscores the intensifying race between Chinese and US technology firms for leadership in artificial intelligence. Read our previous article on AI and Business here.
