DeepSeek Raises $15 Billion to Boost AI Competition with OpenAI and Anthropic

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek has raised about 100 billion yuan (around $15 billion) in a recent funding round, according to Bloomberg News.

The company plans to use this large amount of money to compete more strongly with leading American AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic.

DeepSeek is based in Hangzhou, China. At first, it wanted to raise 50 billion yuan. During talks with possible investors, it raised its goal to 80 billion yuan. In the end, it reached about 100 billion yuan, according to people familiar with the fundraising who spoke to Bloomberg.

Major investors in this funding round included Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), a well-known battery maker, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind the popular WeChat app.

However, the full details about who invested and the conditions of the funding have not been made public.

Funding Gap with US AI Companies

This funding is an important step for DeepSeek. The company gained worldwide attention in 2025 when it showed that its AI systems could compete with technology from major Silicon Valley companies while costing much less to develop.

DeepSeek's rapid rise also helped cause a drop in financial markets around the world, wiping out about $1 trillion in market value.

Although DeepSeek has made strong progress in building competitive AI models, it has usually had much less money than major American AI companies. According to the report, OpenAI and Anthropic have each raised more than $100 billion.

The new funding could help DeepSeek close some of this money gap. However, the company will still have much less funding than its American competitors.

Bloomberg News also reported that DeepSeek is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), which means selling its shares to the public for the first time.

DeepSeek is not the only Chinese AI company planning to sell shares to the public. Its competitor Moonshot is also working toward an IPO. This has increased expectations that more AI companies in China's growing AI industry will soon enter the stock market.

DeepSeek Steps Up AI Infrastructure Spending

To become more competitive, DeepSeek has started spending more money on expanding its AI data centers. It is also developing more open-source AI models for people and businesses in China and other countries. Open-source models allow others to access and modify the technology.

DeepSeek has regularly released AI models that work well and cost less than many competing products. This has put pressure on other Chinese AI companies while also attracting customers in the United States and other countries.

For example, when DeepSeek released its V4.1 Flash model in September, the share prices of two Chinese competitors, MiniMax Group and Z.AI, fell, according to the report.

Representatives from DeepSeek, Tencent, and CATL have not replied to emails asking for comments.

Other large Chinese technology companies, including Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance, have also released AI services that compete on price and cost less to use. Many of these services are open-source, meaning customers can change the AI models to better fit their own needs.