United States · Business news · AI & Tech · 06 Oct 2026
AI: Funding and deals · Models and labs · AI IPOs — more AI news
DeepSeek, the Chinese AI model developer, is aiming to raise at least $12 billion and possibly as much as 100 billion yuan (about $15 billion), double its initial plan of 50 billion yuan, according to a Bloomberg News report carried by Reuters and relayed here. Battery maker CATL and Tencent Holdings have committed some of the largest amounts. The round, which began in July after a first outside raise of about $7.4 billion, values the company at roughly 500 billion yuan (about $74 billion) or more. DeepSeek has hired CITIC Securities to prepare a possible listing on Shanghai's STAR Market and plans to deploy 160,000 Huawei AI accelerators.
The finance angle: $12-15 billion of fresh capital at about a $74 billion valuation for the main Chinese maker of low-priced open models, the kind of models that put price pressure on US labs' API revenue. The spending goes to Huawei — 160,000 Ascend accelerators and a data centre in Inner Mongolia — not to Nvidia, which US export rules keep out of that market. Tencent and CATL are the listed investors named. For US-listed AI companies the direct effect is small; it shows a funded competitor on model pricing and a chip order book that US suppliers cannot bid for.
Reported by The American Bazaar — “DeepSeek targets $12 billion funding round as it builds for potential 2027 IPO” ↗ on 06 Oct 2026.
Official series on 06 Oct 2026 or the last day before it, and the latest observation.
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