DeepSeek Banks Billions Despite U.S. Security Curbs
The Chinese AI lab secured a massive funding round shortly after Washington ordered its tech removed from federal systems.
By Dmitri Sokolov ·
Washington moved to bar the Chinese AI lab DeepSeek from federal civilian systems just a couple of days ago, citing security worries. In response, the company has reportedly pulled in a staggering sum of its own: about $15 billion, or roughly 100 billion yuan.
This influx of capital, reported by Bloomberg, ranks among the largest funding events ever seen in the country. Potential backers lining up include major domestic players like battery manufacturer CATL and Tencent, the firm behind the popular WeChat platform.
This latest haul is actually the second major push DeepSeek has made this year. Back in June, the firm secured over $7 billion at a $50 billion valuation. By July, the company was reportedly looking for another $1.5 billion at a valuation near $71 billion, with a potential initial public offering in China scheduled for as early as next year.
Even with the restrictions in the United States, the Hangzhou-based startup is spending heavily to build out its infrastructure. The goal is to push open models into markets both inside China and abroad, a move that will likely heat up competition among domestic rivals.
DeepSeek's massive round is just one piece of a larger puzzle where investors are pouring billions into artificial intelligence companies globally. In China, Moonshot AI, which develops Kimi, secured $2 billion in May. Manus AI brought in over $500 million earlier this month. Meanwhile, Zhipu AI (Z.ai) and MiniMax, both of which listed on the Hong Kong exchange in January, hold market capitalizations of approximately $29 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively, as of today.
Founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng—who previously co-founded the quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer—DeepSeek gained worldwide attention in early 2025 with its free-to-use, open-weight R1 reasoning model. Following the earlier funding round, Liang retains an estimated 81.6% stake in the Chinese operating entity, according to corporate ownership data analyzed by WireScreen. DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Looking ahead, the company intends to ramp up spending on AI infrastructure and open models for both domestic and international markets. This expansion could further intensify competition among domestic rivals, even as the company faces restrictions in the U.S.
Source: TechCrunch
