DEEPSEEK PAUSED A GIANT FUND ROUND 🚨👀💰

DeepSeek told some investors its second fundraising round is on hold for now. Soft reports say founder Liang Wenfeng's private May talk leaked online, and the next check-writing step slowed. ⏸️📄

What he said (soft until confirmed):
🔵 Biggest gap with the US is chips and compute, not talent
🟡 About 200,000 Huawei 950 chips wanted for a top model, only about 16,000 in reach
🟢 Still leans hard on Nvidia-class chips and wants to buy fast after the first raise

Money board 💵
First outside round (June 2026): about $7.4B raised. Company value over about $50B (some reports $52B–$59B). Tencent and CATL were in the room. Liang kept founder control.

Second round talks pointed near $71B–$74B. Then the verbal pause.

After $7.4B already raised, this is not a broke startup. It is a pause about control and message. ⚖️

Reports also mention a possible Shanghai STAR Market IPO path later. A private pause does not kill every capital door. 🏛️

#DeepSeek #AI #Crypto #Funding #ChinaAI