Deepseek, a Chinese artificial‑intelligence startup, is near the end of a new financing round that could bring in at least $12 billion and possibly as much as $15 billion. Battery maker CATL and internet giant Tencent are said to be the largest contributors. The money will fund a data centre built around 160,000 AI chips supplied by Huawei and help the company get ready for an initial public offering (IPO) in early 2027.
Why the round matters now
Deepseek’s latest model, V4‑Flash, has been reported to beat rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI on cost and performance. The company also says it wants to keep releasing open‑source models with freely available weights, even as it works on its own inference chip to lessen reliance on Nvidia and Huawei.
Why it matters
If Deepseek secures the funding, it could scale up its AI services and compete more directly with Western firms, potentially lowering the cost of AI tools for Chinese businesses. The planned 2027 IPO may also open a new avenue for investors to back a non‑U.S. AI player. It remains unclear how quickly the company’s own chips will reduce dependence on Nvidia.
