Tencent and Alibaba in Talks to Invest in DeepSeek at $20B+ Valuation — First Outside Funding

The Information·high signal

Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba are in discussions to invest in DeepSeek's first-ever external funding round at a valuation exceeding $20 billion, per The Information and Bloomberg. Tencent is reportedly proposing up to a 20% stake. The valuation has roughly doubled from initial $10B targets, reflecting surging investor interest after V4's release and DeepSeek's cost-efficiency narrative disrupting Western AI lab economics.