Tencent backs DeepSeek in $12 billion funding round

Tencent and battery giant CATL are backing a funding round of at least 80 billion yuan, or about $12 billion, for Chinese artificial intelligence developer DeepSeek, Bloomberg reported on October 6, 2026.

DeepSeek had initially sought 50 billion yuan. Investor demand pushed the target higher, and the final funding tally could reach as much as 100 billion yuan, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg.

DeepSeek rose to prominence with its open-source R1 model in early 2025. It followed that with its flagship V4 models earlier in 2026, which matched the performance of advanced systems from OpenAI and Anthropic at a fraction of the cost.

Prior reports estimated the company's valuation at roughly $74 billion before this financing round. Investors are also tracking the artificial intelligence startup for possible plans to pursue a public listing.