DeepSeek has told prospective investors in its second fundraising round that it¡¯s suspending the deal for now, people familiar with the matter said, days after comments widely attributed to founder Liang Wenfeng about U.S.-Chinese AI competition went viral.
The Chinese AI pioneer verbally informed some of its would-be backers that they wouldn¡¯t be signing investment agreements in the coming days, as they had expected, people familiar with the matter said. DeepSeek might choose to resume the deal process at a later date, the people said, asking to remain anonymous to talk about private discussions. The suspension stemmed in part from Liang¡¯s frustration over online reports about his comments to investors during his first financing deal, which closed in June and raised $7 billion for the AI lab, the people said.
The authenticity of those posts, which concerned a transcript of a meeting Liang held with unidentified parties, haven¡¯t been verified. Chinese media including Yicai reported this week that the billionaire founder talked about a reliance on Nvidia chips for AI development and China¡¯s persistent lag in AI sophistication relative to the U.S.. DeepSeek didn¡¯t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment about the transcript or the fundraising.
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