DeepSeek raises 105.5 billion yuan in second funding round
November 1, 2026 · 3 min read
DeepSeek has raised 105.5 billion yuan in its second funding round, a figure that represents a significant expansion of the company's capital base. The total amount raised in this specific round was doubled during the fundraising process, which lasted for four months. This increase in scale was driven by the need to secure sufficient resources for model development and to mitigate the financial risks associated with the current market environment. The company is preparing for potential adjustments in the artificial intelligence industry, including the possibility of a market correction that could affect the valuation of similar firms.
The funding round attracted nearly 30 investors, with Tencent and Contemporary Amperex Technology Group serving as the two primary contributors. Tencent invested 10 billion yuan in this round, matching its investment in the first round. Contemporary Amperex Technology Group invested 10 billion yuan in the second round, following a 5 billion yuan investment in the first. Other major participants include memory chip manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies and state-owned foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, although the specific amounts invested by these two entities have not been disclosed. The investor base also includes companies from the internet, mobile phone, and automotive manufacturing sectors, such as Meituan, vivo, Geely, Midea, Luxshare Precision, Ctrip, and Xiaohongshu. Each of these companies invested between 1 billion and 3 billion yuan.
State-owned investors contributed approximately 27 percent of the total amount raised in this round, a substantial increase from the 2 percent share in the first round. The National Artificial Intelligence Development Fund invested 1 billion yuan, the same amount as in the previous round. Other state-linked institutions, including China Mobile, China Telecom, CICC, CITIC Securities, and China Life Insurance, also participated, with individual investments ranging from 2 billion to 8 billion yuan. In terms of the cumulative funding across both rounds, technology companies contributed approximately 42 percent of the total, while state-owned investors accounted for about 19 percent. Venture capital and private equity firms made up the third largest group of contributors.
The decision to double the fundraising target was influenced by the rising cost of high-end computing hardware. The price of a server equipped with eight Nvidia B300 chips increased from approximately 15 million yuan to 19 million yuan during the four-month fundraising period. This price point is more than five times the cost of similar servers in many other countries. The increase in hardware costs, combined with global supply constraints on memory chips and export restrictions on advanced artificial intelligence chips, has made computing resources a critical competitive factor for Chinese technology companies. DeepSeek requires substantial capital to cover the rising costs of chip procurement and to maintain its research and development capabilities. The diverse mix of investors, spanning internet platforms, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, and financial institutions, provides the company with access to both capital and industrial synergies. However, the company must balance its research expenditures with the need to generate returns for its investors while navigating the constraints of limited high-end computing supply.