DeepSeek has raised 100 billion yuan, equivalent to $15 billion, in a new round of financing. This is one of the largest capital raising operations ever carried out in China, as reported by Bloomberg. The Chinese company, active in the field of generative artificial intelligence, intends to use the funds to strengthen its position globally.
The gap with American competitors
The round helps to reduce, at least in part, the financial gap with US laboratories: OpenAI and Anthropic have each raised over 100 billion dollars. DeepSeek is also reportedly preparing a possible stock market listing in China, similarly to what the two American competitors are doing in the United States.
According to sources cited by Bloomberg, DeepSeek increased the collection target several times during negotiations with investors: the initial target was 50 billion yuan, then increased to 80 billion and finally to 100 billion. Among the main financiers would be the Chinese electric battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (Catl) and Tencent Holdings, the company that controls the local social network WeChat.
DeepSeek became known outside China in 2025 when its chatbots demonstrated that competitive AI models could be developed at far lower costs than major U.S. operators, triggering a broad sell-off in Western markets.
Data centers and open source
The new resources will help DeepSeek to increase investments in data centers and in the development of open source artificial intelligence models, which can be used and modified by companies and developers. A strategy that reflects a broader trend in the Chinese market, where groups such as Alibaba and ByteDance also focus on open models, while in the United States a proprietary approach prevails.
The company’s goal is also to accelerate its international expansion, aiming for a stronger global presence to compete with OpenAI, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic.