DeepSeek Has Not Publicly Announced Financing

A reported $14.98 billion funding round would give DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence developer, a major capital boost as it competes with U.S. firms Anthropic and OpenAI.

CATL and Tencent Holdings ranked among the round’s biggest backers. Individual investor commitments and final transaction terms have not been disclosed.

The reported total is about twice DeepSeek’s initial fundraising target, which rose during investor talks. It also exceeds an earlier figure for the round.

DeepSeek has made no public statement about the financing.

The developer is investing more in data centers and open-weight models for use at home and abroad. Its lower-cost models have attracted users in the United States and other international markets while putting pressure on Chinese competitors.

The round ranks among China’s largest funding deals, underscoring the scale of investment in AI development for Chinese and overseas users as global competition intensifies between Chinese and U.S. companies.