DeepSeek is wrapping up a funding round of about 100 billion yuan (roughly $15 billion), four people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday — one of the largest funding rounds in China. Battery maker CATL and WeChat operator Tencent were among the biggest investors, with more than 15 investors in total, including new backers Midea, Meituan, Geely and GigaDevice.

Reuters reported the round values DeepSeek at 500 billion yuan before the new capital, double its original 50 billion yuan fundraising target. Bloomberg first reported the $15 billion figure. The round is expected to complete in the coming days, but one source cautioned that financial details and the investor lineup are not ironclad and could still change; DeepSeek, CATL and Tencent did not comment.

The raise lands two days after the US Department of Homeland Security ordered DeepSeek out of federal civilian agencies, and follows a June round of more than $7 billion at a $50 billion valuation. It is the rare Chinese-lab story that clears the Wire's bar: a raise of this size, aimed at AI infrastructure and open models, directly funds the strongest open-weight challenger to the US labs.