DeepSeek nears $12B Tencent-backed funding round

DeepSeek (DEEPSEEK) is close to raising at least 80B yuan ($12B) in its latest funding round, exceeding its initial target ahead of a planned initial public offering in early 2027, Bloomberg reported.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. and Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) have committed among the largest amounts in the current financing, which is expected to close soon, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

DeepSeek initially sought about 50B yuan, but investor interest surged following the release of its latest AI model. The final amount could approach 100B yuan based on signed term sheets, the people added.

The funding round sets the stage for one of the most closely watched Chinese market debuts in years. DeepSeek is riding momentum from the release of V4 Flash, which reset expectations around the cost and performance of AI models compared with leading rivals Anthropic (ANTHRO) and OpenAI (OPENAI).

Like other major AI companies, DeepSeek is seeking substantial capital to fund its ambitions in the rapidly evolving industry. The company plans to deploy at least 160,000 of Huawei Technologies' top AI accelerators at a large data center under construction in Inner Mongolia, potentially creating one of the largest known clusters of Huawei AI chips.

DeepSeek has also released software developed with Huawei to program its AI chips, expanding its partnership with the Chinese hardware maker as it seeks alternatives to Nvidia (NVDA) technology.

Meanwhile, rival Moonshot is also targeting an early 2027 IPO after completing a funding round that valued the company at $50B.