Chinese developers of large language models are lining up to tap public markets. Following Zhipu AI, MiniMax and Moonshot, DeepSeek now appears to be accelerating its own plans for an initial public offering.
Reuters reported on the 8th that DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has hired CITIC Securities to prepare a listing on the STAR Market in Shanghai, citing sources familiar with the matter. DeepSeek aims to begin the IPO process this year, the sources said, though the timing, size of the offering and target valuation have yet to be decided.
Rivals moved faster. Zhipu AI and MiniMax listed in Hong Kong earlier this year, and Moonshot filed confidentially for a Hong Kong IPO this month. Moonshot was valued at $50 billion in its latest funding round, below DeepSeek and below Zhipu AI, which has a market capitalization of about $54 billion.
DeepSeek is preparing to list as it seeks funds for computing infrastructure, model development and the recruitment and retention of talent. Intensifying competition between leading Chinese and U.S. AI companies is also cited as a factor. Reuters reported in July that DeepSeek was raising a round that valued the company at $75 billion, or about 100.4 trillion won. In June, the company raised about $7.4 billion, or roughly 9.9 trillion won, pushing its post-money valuation above $50 billion, or about 67 trillion won. Founder Liang Wenfeng personally put in 20 billion yuan, or about 4 trillion won, at the time, while Tencent and battery maker CATL invested 10 billion yuan, or about 2 trillion won, and 5 billion yuan, or about 1 trillion won, respectively, becoming the largest outside shareholders.
Those valuations fall far short of what U.S. rivals are targeting. Some investors have said Anthropic could be valued at as much as $2 trillion in an IPO, and OpenAI is seen as capable of fetching up to $1 trillion as it moves toward a listing. The gap reflects a difference in revenue, indicating that Chinese AI developers are struggling to convert their technology into profit.
Liang is said to hope the IPO proceeds will help strengthen incentives to retain key staff and researchers. DeepSeek has recently been losing talent to better-funded rivals such as ByteDance and Xiaomi.
