DeepSeek Reportedly Seeking New Funding at $71B Valuation
智东西 · wechat · 2026-07-14
According to the Financial Times, DeepSeek has begun approaching new investors this week to discuss a fresh funding round at a pre-money valuation of approximately $71 billion, marking a 37% increase from its initial round.
Reports indicate that DeepSeek's first funding round closed around late May of this year, raising roughly $7 billion at a post-money valuation of about $52 billion. One objective of this rapid succession of funding is to accelerate the expansion of its computing infrastructure. In June, the company posted job openings for an IDC team on its official site, aiming to build its own GW-level computing park—handling everything from planning and design to operations management internally. The article notes that similar projects could require total investments reaching hundreds of millions of RMB.
Furthermore, Reuters previously reported that DeepSeek is advancing the development of proprietary AI inference chips and is engaging with partners across chip design, wafer foundries, and storage. The article also mentions that the lead of the DeepSeekHarness team stated on X that they are severely understaffed, with hiring unable to keep pace with business expansion. This team primarily focuses on Agent products, and the multi-turn reasoning, planning, and tool invocation required by such products consume significant compute power. The author infers that once subsequent Agent products are launched, DeepSeek's compute deficit may widen further.
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