DeepSeek, the Hangzhou-based developer whose low-cost models jolted global technology markets early last year, is close to completing a funding round of about 100 billion yuan, or roughly $15 billion, according to Reuters, which cited four people with knowledge of the matter on 22 October 2026. The round is expected to close in the coming days, although the terms could still change and the company has not publicly confirmed the figures.
According to the reports, the round values DeepSeek at around 500 billion yuan (about $75 billion) before the new money is added. The company originally set out to raise 50 billion yuan. Bloomberg reported that the target was raised to 80 billion yuan before demand pushed it to about 100 billion, meaning DeepSeek will have doubled its initial goal.
Who Is Investing
Battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Tencent Holdings, both existing shareholders, are reported to be among the largest investors. Food delivery group Meituan, carmaker Geely and memory chip designer GigaDevice are also named as participants.
The make-up of the investor group is telling. Rather than relying on financial investors alone, DeepSeek is drawing capital from Chinese industrial and consumer champions that have a direct interest in deploying advanced AI across manufacturing, vehicles, logistics and digital services. That strategic alignment gives DeepSeek both money and potential routes to large-scale commercial use.
Funding the Compute Race
The scale of the round reflects the rising cost of competing at the frontier. DeepSeek built its reputation on doing more with less, training capable models at a fraction of the cost reported by American rivals. But keeping pace with US laboratories now requires sustained investment in computing power, talent and data, and the gap in available capital remains large. American AI companies continue to raise and commit sums measured in hundreds of billions of dollars.
Export controls add a further complication. Restrictions on advanced US chips mean Chinese developers must rely more heavily on domestic semiconductor suppliers and on efficiency gains in model design. A war chest of this size gives DeepSeek room to buy whatever capacity it can secure and to invest in the engineering needed to make constrained hardware go further.
A Path to Public Markets
The financing could also pave the way for a domestic stock market listing. Some Chinese commentators have suggested a listed DeepSeek could command a market value several times its current private valuation, although such projections are speculative and depend heavily on the company’s commercial progress and on market conditions at the time.
A listing would mark a significant moment for China’s technology sector, giving domestic investors direct exposure to a frontier AI developer and providing a benchmark for valuing the country’s other AI start-ups.
What It Means for Global Business
For executives outside China, the round is a reminder that the AI landscape is not a two-horse race between a handful of American firms. DeepSeek’s models have been widely adopted by developers because of their low cost and open availability, and a well-funded DeepSeek is likely to keep applying downward pressure on AI pricing worldwide.
That creates opportunity and risk in equal measure. Lower-cost models can reduce the expense of deploying AI at scale. But companies considering Chinese-developed models must weigh data governance, regulatory and geopolitical considerations carefully, particularly in sensitive sectors and in markets where scrutiny of Chinese technology is increasing.
The Bottom Line
A $15 billion raise at a $75 billion pre-money valuation would place DeepSeek among the most valuable private AI companies in the world. It confirms that Chinese industry is prepared to back a national AI champion at scale, and that the competition to define the next generation of AI will remain global.
