On May 6th, according to a report by the Financial Times, the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund ("National Big Fund") is in talks with DeepSeek regarding its first-round financing and is expected to lead this investment, with a valuation close to $45 billion. This valuation has doubled from around $20 billion during the initial negotiations a few weeks ago, showing a rapid re-evaluation of its technology roadmap and potential commercial value by the capital market.

The report points out that although DeepSeek is still primarily focused on large model development, with relatively limited commercial progress, investors remain optimistic about its long-term growth prospects. In addition to the National Big Fund, Chinese tech companies such as Tencent have also been reported to be involved in discussions, although the final list of investors has not yet been determined.

As the most representative national capital platform in China's semiconductor industry, the National Big Fund completed fundraising of approximately $47 billion in 2024, with funds mainly coming from the Ministry of Finance, local governments, and the state-owned banking system. It has long focused on key areas such as chip equipment and materials, with previous investments covering core manufacturers such as SMIC and Yangtze Memory Technologies. If this investment is finalized, it will mark its first public entry into the local large language model field.

If this transaction is completed, it will not only signify that national-level capital begins to systematically enter the generative AI foundational model sector, but it may also drive the Chinese AI industry to extend from the computing power and manufacturing ends to the model layer, promoting coordinated development and strengthening the synergy between technology and capital.