Silicon Goes Sino: DeepSeek and Moonshot Bag Billions While OpenAI Plays Catch-Up 🐉

Two of China's leading artificial intelligence firms are closing in on multibillion-dollar capital raises ahead of planned initial public offerings in early 2027, even as OpenAI pursues a fresh round of its own.

DeepSeek is nearing a funding round of at least $12 billion, backed by Tencent and battery maker CATL, ahead of a planned IPO in early 2027, according to a Bloomberg report. Demand could push the raise to around $15 billion, exceeding its initial target. The financing follows the release of DeepSeek's V4 Flash model, which the company says strengthened its competitiveness against OpenAI and Anthropic on cost and performance.

Moonshot AI, the company behind the Kimi chatbot, has completed its final private funding round at a $50 billion valuation. The firm is targeting a Hong Kong IPO in the first quarter of 2027 that could raise up to $5 billion. Annual recurring revenue is expected to reach $2 billion by December, double its current level, according to the report.

OpenAI is separately seeking to raise at least $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion pre-money valuation, following a delay to its own listing. Bloomberg's latest report identifies potential investors, including BlackRock and UAE funds, which could collectively contribute up to $10 billion to the round.

Anthropic, meanwhile, is eyeing an IPO in November, after the U.S. midterm elections, at a potential valuation of around $2 trillion, according to the same reporting. The back-to-back listings would test investor appetite for AI at valuations measured in the trillions and would place two U.S. and two Chinese model developers in public markets within months of each other.

The raises underscore how capital continues to flow into artificial intelligence development on both sides of the Pacific, with state-linked and corporate investors in China backing domestic challengers even as U.S. firms court sovereign-wealth and asset-management capital.