DeepSeek reportedly seeks first funding round at $45 billion valuation

May 20, 2026 - 02:00

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DeepSeek reportedly seeks first funding round at $45 billion valuation

China’s state-backed semiconductor investment vehicle, known as the Big Fund, is in talks to lead DeepSeek’s first external fundraising, which could value the AI company at about $45 billion, according to the Financial Times. Tencent is also among the investors still in discussions, though the final lineup has not been decided.

The reported valuation is up sharply from about $20 billion only weeks ago, as investors look to back DeepSeek despite its limited commercial focus. A deal would also mark the first known investment by the Big Fund in a Chinese large language model company. [Financial Times]