A New Giant in the AI Market: DeepSeek Secures $1.5 Billion Investment

21:54 / 14.07.2026·31·Technology

DeepSeek, one of China's most prominent AI startups, is in negotiations to raise $1.5 billion in new funding to expand its financial capabilities and strengthen its global market position. According to Bloomberg, if the deal is finalized, the company's valuation is expected to reach approximately $71 billion. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .

This news marks the second major financial milestone for DeepSeek in a very short period. Just a month ago, the company raised $7 billion in its first external funding round, at which time it was valued at $50 billion. Such rapid growth indicates increasing investor confidence in Chinese technology.

DeepSeek is not only raising capital but also planning to become a public company. Reports suggest the company plans to launch an IPO in 2027, though this could happen as early as the end of this year if the process accelerates. This move will provide the company with additional resources to compete with US giants like OpenAI and Google.

Technological Efficiency and Competition

Founded in 2023, DeepSeek captured global attention early last year by introducing highly efficient and cost-effective AI models. The company's technology stands out for its ability to match US models while requiring significantly lower costs, which has sharply increased demand among corporate clients.

According to Vercel platform data, in June, DeepSeek accounted for nearly 23% of all tokens processed in the corporate segment. For comparison, another industry leader, Anthropic, held a 32% share. These figures demonstrate that Chinese open-source models are competing with world-class laboratories despite US export restrictions.

Interestingly, DeepSeek runs its cloud services on chips manufactured by Huawei Technologies. This is a significant factor proving that China is successfully utilizing its internal resources amid US bans on high-tech chip exports. The company's investors include major entities such as Tencent and the China National AI Industry Investment Fund.

DeepSeek models are also becoming increasingly popular among users and developers in Uzbekistan. Especially in programming and text processing, the free and open nature of this model is opening up new opportunities for local startups. The company's IPO and new investments will contribute to the emergence of even more powerful and affordable AI tools in the future.