China's DeepSeek set to raise $12B
What's the story
DeepSeek, a leading Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company, is on the verge of raising at least 80 billion yuan ($12 billion) in its latest funding round. The investment comes from major players such as battery pioneer Contemporary Amperex Technology and WeChat operator Tencent Holdings Ltd. The funding will help DeepSeek prepare for its initial public offering (IPO) in early 2027.
Funding details
Funding round exceeds initial target due to AI model success
DeepSeek had initially set a capital-raising target of around 50 billion yuan. However, the company's latest AI model exceeded expectations, attracting more interest than anticipated.
The final amount raised in this funding round could be close to 100 billion yuan, according to a Bloomberg report.
Future prospects
DeepSeek's partnership with Huawei accelerates AI chip deployment
DeepSeek plans to deploy at least 160,000 of Huawei's top accelerators at a massive data center it is building in Inner Mongolia. This could create one of the largest known clusters of Huawei AI chips.
The company has also released software developed with Huawei to program these chips, marking a partnership with the hardware giant.
IPO strategy
Tencent's investment fuels AI integration ambitions
Once this funding round closes, the next step for DeepSeek will be to restructure the company in preparation for its IPO.
The move is being closely watched as it could be one of the most highly anticipated Chinese market debuts in years.
Tencent, which invested 10 billion yuan in a previous funding round, aims to integrate AI into its platforms.