DeepSeek Near Deal for Over $12 Billion in Funding – Could End Up Twice as Large as Planned
Chinese AI firm DeepSeek is, according to Bloomberg, close to securing at least 80 billion yuan (around $12 billion) in its latest funding round – far above the original target of 50 billion yuan. The money is earmarked in part for a data center in Inner Mongolia with at least 160,000 Huawei accelerators, and the road ahead is said to lead toward an IPO in early 2027. But everything rests on anonymous sources, and none of the companies has confirmed anything.
What's New
Bloomberg News reported on October 6, 2026, that DeepSeek is "close to securing" at least 80 billion yuan – roughly $12 billion – in its latest funding round. That is far above the company's original target of around 50 billion yuan, and according to Bloomberg, terms in the final negotiations could push the total toward 100 billion yuan, about $15 billion. The round is said to close soon, per the sources (Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance).
Interest reportedly took off after the successful release of the company's newest AI model. Bloomberg refers to the model as "V4 Flash," while other sources have mentioned a "V4.1-Flash"; exactly which model drove the interest is not entirely clear, and there is reason to keep the naming question open.
The company is said to have originally aimed for a valuation of around 500 billion yuan in the funding. It is worth noting here that the figures from different sources cannot be reconciled into one consistent story: Bloomberg cites 500 billion yuan as the original target, Traders Union has referred to an earlier target of "around $75 billion," and a previous round of 50 billion yuan reportedly valued the company at around 350 billion yuan. These figures most likely refer to different points in time and different things – targets versus realized valuations – but the exact relationship is unclear, and they should not be mixed together.
The Investors: Tencent and CATL
According to Bloomberg's sources, battery giant CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology) and Tencent, the company behind WeChat, have committed to "among the largest amounts" in the round. A CATL representative declined to comment, and Tencent had no immediate comment. Neither DeepSeek, Tencent, nor CATL responded to Reuters' requests for comment, according to CTech (CTech).
For Tencent, this would be a landmark position. Bloomberg notes that in an earlier round the company made the single largest investment in DeepSeek, at 10 billion yuan. Tencent is said, per Bloomberg, to want to integrate AI into its platforms, and a large stake in China's most closely watched AI startup is a direct route there.
What the Money Is For: Huawei Chips in Inner Mongolia
The most concrete technology signal in the reporting concerns the hardware: DeepSeek plans to install at least 160,000 of Huawei's most powerful AI accelerators in a massive data center the company is building in Inner Mongolia. According to Bloomberg, it could become one of the largest known clusters of Huawei AI chips. With funding of 80–100 billion yuan, there is thus a stated funding path for one of China's most ambitious domestic AI hardware projects.
Secondary sources point out that the push into domestic hardware also has a software side. Whalesbook writes that DeepSeek, through co-developed software – such as the open-source tool TileLang – is working to ensure its models run efficiently on Chinese hardware (Whalesbook). This is secondary context and not part of the confirmed deal, but it fits the picture of a company building the entire stack – models, software, and data infrastructure – around domestic hardware.
The Road to an IPO
According to Bloomberg's sources, the next step after the round closes is to restructure the company to prepare for a listing. Bloomberg describes a landmark IPO in early 2027. Traders Union reports that DeepSeek has already held talks with banks and auditors and later chose CITIC Securities as adviser for a listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, China's tech exchange; the preparations were first reported in mid-July 2026 (Traders Union). There is no formal confirmation of the listing – everything is plans described by sources.
DeepSeek is not alone in its timing. Bloomberg writes that rival Moonshot is also targeting an IPO in early 2027, after closing a funding round at a $50 billion valuation. The reporting sketches a pattern in which several of China's leading AI companies are preparing market debuts in the same period.
The Founder's Promise
A central figure in the story is founder Liang Wenfeng. Bloomberg writes that Liang, in at least one meeting with investors this year, promised to continue developing open AI models while working toward the broader goal of artificial general intelligence – technology ahead of profit. It is a promise with implications for both product strategy and the relationship with investors: the round is enormous, but according to Bloomberg's sources it is not primarily meant to make the company profitable in the short term.
The round has also come close to collapsing. According to Bloomberg, citing a July report from Yicai, the deal was briefly put on hold after comments attributed to Liang about the Chinese-American AI race went viral on social media.
The Uncertainty and the Open Questions
It is worth emphasizing how thin the documentary basis actually is. All the deal details come from Bloomberg's anonymous "people familiar with the matter." DeepSeek did not respond to an email request for comment, CATL declined, and Tencent had no immediate comment.
There is also a concrete contradiction between the sources: Bloomberg says the round is "close to securing" and that details "could change in final negotiations," while Whalesbook describes the round as "finalized" at around $12 billion. These descriptions cannot be reconciled from the sources, and it is the primary source – Bloomberg – that gives the more cautious picture.
In sum, the main open questions are: How large will the round actually be – 80 billion yuan, or closer to 100? What will the final valuation be, and how does it relate to the diverging figures circulating? And will the plans for the Huawei cluster in Inner Mongolia and the 2027 STAR Market listing materialize as the sources outline? Until DeepSeek, Tencent, or CATL confirms anything, all of this is plans described by sources – but they all point in the same direction: toward a far larger and more self-sustaining DeepSeek, built on Chinese hardware.