CATL plans to invest in DeepSeek's record $10.29B AI funding round

CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd.), the world’s leading electric vehicle battery manufacturer, is reportedly planning to invest in Chinese AI startup DeepSeek as part of a massive funding round. According to The Information, the round targets about 50 billion yuan ($7.36 billion) and could close as early as June 2026. If completed, this would be the largest funding round for a Chinese AI company to date, potentially valuing DeepSeek at over 350 billion yuan (~$51.5 billion). CATL's move comes as the company expands into AI infrastructure, seeking to sell power supply equipment to large data centers to meet soaring energy demands from computing power. Other tech giants including JD.com, NetEase, Tencent, and Alibaba are also in talks to acquire stakes, though final details are not yet finalized.

DeepSeek first gained global attention in January 2025 with its open-source R1 large language model, trained at a fraction of the cost of US rivals. Its latest V4 model is optimized for Huawei's Ascend 950PR chips, highlighting China's push for coordinated software-hardware development. With fresh capital, DeepSeek plans to accelerate model releases—aiming for a V4.1 update in June 2026—and build a large-scale data center in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, leveraging low temperatures and abundant electricity to reduce cooling costs. This infrastructure investment is critical after a 12-hour system crash last month underscored the need for owned servers. The funding round also sees founder Liang Wenfeng contributing the largest single chunk, while DeepSeek ramps up commercialization efforts.