DeepSeek’s reported 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) funding round is about twice its June raise, with Bloomberg News linking the financing to the Chinese AI startup’s competition with leading U.S. labs.
Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the talks, that Contemporary Amperex Technology and Tencent Holdings were among the round’s largest investors. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the two companies participated.
Reuters said the June funding totaled about 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion). Bloomberg has also reported that DeepSeek is putting more money into AI data centers and developing open-source models for users in China and overseas. It placed the financing in the context of DeepSeek’s efforts to compete with leading U.S. AI labs.
Reuters said it could not immediately verify Bloomberg’s report. DeepSeek’s public news page did not carry an announcement confirming the financing.
