China’s most talked-about AI company, DeepSeek, is reportedly closing in on a massive new funding round that could value the company at nearly $45 billion, more than four times the figure being discussed just two weeks ago, reports Bloomberg.
China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, known as the Big Fund, is in talks to lead the financing round. Tencent and Alibaba are also in discussions to participate, highlighting strong domestic backing.
Founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, cofounder of Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management, DeepSeek rose to prominence after launching a breakthrough model in January 2025. The system delivered performance comparable to leading US players despite restrictions on advanced chips and global talent access, positioning the company as a symbol of China’s push for technological independence.
DeepSeek’s core strength lies in its advanced reasoning models and its move into agentic systems, software that can independently execute complex tasks. The company has also aligned itself with domestic hardware, ensuring compatibility with chips from Huawei Technologies as China works to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers like Nvidia. This hardware-software alignment gives DeepSeek a strategic edge in a constrained supply environment.
Alibaba continues to evolve its Qwen models, while Tencent is expanding its enterprise AI ecosystem. At the same time, newer entrants like OpenClaw are gaining traction in autonomous systems, driving further innovation. On the global stage, leading players like OpenAI and Anthropic continue to set performance benchmarks.
With fresh funding, DeepSeek plans to scale its computing power, hire aggressively, and deepen ties with cloud providers such as Alibaba and Tencent.
