According to individuals with knowledge of the matter, DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has committed 20 billion yuan of his own capital to the round.
TENCENT (HKEX: 00700)
is considering an investment of 10 billion yuan, while
CATL (HKEX: 03750)
is evaluating a potential investment of 5 billion yuan, which would position them as the largest external investors in this financing. DeepSeek aims to raise approximately $70 billion in its first major funding round, with a valuation reaching as high as $590 billion.
The AI firm is also in final-stage negotiations with China's national AI fund,
NTES-S (HKEX: 09999)
, and
JD-SW (HKEX: 09618)
. The total number of participating institutions in this round is expected to be fewer than ten.
CATL, the dominant supplier in the electric vehicle battery supply chain, has recently moved into the AI data center sector, exploring opportunities to provide power equipment and energy storage solutions. This strategic shift is driven by the surging demand for large-scale, reliable electricity required by AI workloads.
Tencent has been actively promoting its own Hunyuan AI model but currently trails domestic market leaders like ByteDance's Doubao and DeepSeek. Forging a closer partnership with DeepSeek could potentially assist Tencent in catching up to its rival
BABA-W (HKEX: 09988)
, which has prioritized its self-developed Qwen AI model.
The sources indicate that DeepSeek anticipates closing this funding round within the coming weeks, though they cautioned that the financial details remain subject to change. Hong Kong-based IDG Capital and Monolith Capital are also among the potential investors.
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