Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has selected CITIC Securities among four underwriters to prepare a listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, people familiar with the matter say. The Hangzhou-based company aims to begin the IPO process this year, with a debut potentially following in 2027.
A pre-IPO financing round now underway could value DeepSeek at roughly 500 billion yuan ($74 billion), up 48% from the $50 billion valuation it commanded in June. The exact amount DeepSeek plans to raise has not been finalized. The move follows rival Moonshot AI's confidential filing for a Hong Kong IPO at a reported $50 billion valuation.
DeepSeek rattled global markets in early 2025 when it showed a leading model could be trained far more cheaply than Silicon Valley rivals assumed. Analysts say the shift toward a public listing reflects a broader change in China's AI race: with model quality converging, competition increasingly hinges on which company can lock in enough permanent capital to fund years of compute-heavy training and retain engineering talent.