Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has reportedly raised about CNY51 billion, or roughly $7.5 billion, in its first funding round at a post-money valuation near CNY400 billion, or about $58 billion. The reported backers include founder Liang Wenfeng with about CNY20 billion, Tencent with about CNY10 billion, and CATL-affiliated investors with about CNY5 billion. The financing underscores strong investor appetite for Chinese artificial intelligence firms as they seek capital to scale models, computing capacity and supporting infrastructure.