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Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek is already exploring another funding round, barely a month after completing its first-ever external fundraising. The move underlines the soaring capital demands of the global AI race, where companies are spending aggressively on computing infrastructure and custom chips to stay ahead.
According to a Financial Times report, DeepSeek has begun preliminary discussions with potential investors for a new funding round that could value the company at about $71 billion before the investment. If completed, the proposed valuation would mark a sharp rise from the roughly $52 billion post-money valuation it secured after raising nearly $7 billion in late May.
The fresh capital is expected to support expansion plans, particularly the construction of proprietary data centers and the purchase of additional AI processors needed to power next-generation models and AI agents.
New fundraising efforts can be viewed as a large amount of money needed to build the complex infrastructure that would enable the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology. Due to increased competition, more money will be spent on building computational power, not only via third-party cloud infrastructure.
DeepSeek also builds AI chips for the inference stage, which involves the reaction of already-trained models to user queries. The firm intends to reduce its dependence on foreign hardware, optimize performance, and lower costs. It was previously reported that DeepSeek used Huawei Ascend processors alongside its existing hardware.
Also Read: DeepSeek Raises $7.4 Billion in First Funding Round at Over $50 Billion Valuation
DeepSeek has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most-watched Chinese AI startups because of the attention and appreciation of V3 and R1 models both internationally and among experts in the field. This success raised doubts about China’s ability to compete with leading US-based AI companies and made the startup a representative of China’s AI developers.
With the successful completion of the proposed fundraising, DeepSeek will have significantly more financial resources to invest in infrastructure construction and chip development in the competitive AI environment.
