Reuters reported on the 3rd, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, that Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek is expected to raise about 50 billion yuan (about 11 trillion won) in its first external funding round.
Companies investing in DeepSeek are said to include Tencent and the world's largest battery maker, CATL. According to the sources, after this investment, DeepSeek's valuation is expected to be about 350 billion to 400 billion yuan (about 78.9 trillion to 90.3 trillion won).
DeepSeek drew global attention early last year by releasing a "cost-effective" AI model and rose to become a leading Chinese AI corporations. In Apr., it also unveiled an AI model, "V4," optimized for Huawei's Ascend chips in China without using U.S. Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs).
Reuters said that Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek, decided to put 20 billion yuan (about 4.5 trillion won) of personal funds into this round. Tencent is said to invest 10 billion yuan, and CATL 5 billion yuan.
Sources said DeepSeek is also in last-minute investment talks with the Chinese government's "National AI Industry Investment Fund," game maker NetEase, Inc., and e-commerce company JD.com.
Reuters assessed, "The list of investors shows that from AI model development to the energy infrastructure that powers it, China is accelerating efforts to build a self-sufficient AI industry ecosystem."