At the new rates, DeepSeek said usage cost of its V4-Pro model now drops to industry-low levels, with cached input costing as little as 2.5 fen, the smallest unit of the Chinese currency, per million tokens.
Other potential backers include e-commerce heavyweight JD.com and online gaming titan NetEase, while Tencent and Alibaba Group have also been previously reported to be in talks.
DeepSeek senior researcher Chen Deli recently confirmed the initiative publicly, saying the goal is to build what he called “DeepSeek Code Harness.”
DeepSeek’s image understanding feature began a phased rollout in late April 2026 and was made widely available to users on May 9, according to the company.
This comes as competition among the country’s large language model developers intensifies, driving demand for capital to secure compute, attract talent and accelerate commercialization.
Beyond the Big Chip Fund, talks reportedly include major internet players such as Alibaba and Tencent, alongside other state-backed investors.
By 2035, officials expect the district’s AI industry revenue to surpass 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion), forming the backbone of the envisioned hub.
On a look-through basis, Liang Wenfeng controls about 84.29% of DeepSeek, maintaining effective control of the company.
The release follows an extended, almost 3-month delay that industry sources attribute in part to a transition in training infrastructure from Nvidia GPUs to Huawei Ascend chips.
Earlier discussions had suggested a baseline valuation of $10 billion, though negotiations remain ongoing and final terms could still change.
