Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek is close to securing at least 80 billion yuan (approximately $12 billion) in its latest funding round, topping its initial capital-raising target ahead of a planned initial public offering in early 2027. Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) and internet and WeChat operator Tencent Holdings Ltd. have committed among the largest amounts in the current financing, according to people familiar with the matter.
The startup initially sought about 50 billion yuan, but investor demand and interest outstripped expectations following the successful release of its latest AI model, the V4 Flash (also referred to as V4.1-Flash). Based on signed investment term sheets, the final financing tally could approach 100 billion yuan, though details are subject to adjustment during final negotiations.
Tencent and CATL Fuel DeepSeek’s Infrastructure Plans
The capital injection shows how major Chinese technology platforms and industrial capital are backing the AI foundation model space. Tencent previously invested 10 billion yuan in an earlier funding round, making it the largest single investor at the time, with the goal of integrating artificial intelligence into its social and content platforms. Meanwhile, CATL is likely eyeing growing component supplier opportunities across the AI supply chain, including hardware demand for data centers.
To bankroll its technological ambitions, DeepSeek requires massive amounts of capital. The company plans to deploy at least 160,000 of Huawei Technologies Co.’s top accelerators at a massive data center under construction in Inner Mongolia, creating one of the largest known clusters of Huawei AI chips.
DeepSeek has publicly released software created alongside Huawei to program AI chips and has re-engineered its TileLang tool to support Huawei's Ascend platform as an open-source offering. This aims to lower switching costs for Chinese companies migrating from Nvidia infrastructure to domestic computing hardware.
Liang Wenfeng Targets Artificial General Intelligence Ahead of IPO
Founder Liang Wenfeng has emphasized in meetings with investors that his primary objective is to push the boundaries of technology and continue developing open AI models in pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI), rather than prioritizing immediate commercial monetization. Liang’s personal net worth more than doubled to approximately $36 billion after DeepSeek closed its first round of external fundraising earlier this summer, which valued the startup at roughly 350 billion yuan and followed initial support from his hedge fund, High-Flyer.
Once the current funding round closes, the next step for the company will involve restructuring to prepare for its anticipated public market debut. However, the capital-raising process also faced friction; the deal was briefly suspended after comments widely attributed to Liang regarding China’s reliance on Nvidia chips and a lag in AI sophistication relative to the U.S. circulated on social media.
Representatives for CATL declined to comment, Tencent had no immediate comment, and DeepSeek did not respond to requests for comment during a Chinese public holiday.