The Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek has temporarily halted its second round of fundraising, following widespread controversy sparked by leaks of private discussions of its founder, Liang Wenfeng.
According to press reports, the company informed investors to stop signing agreements for the time being, after frank excerpts from its founder were published in which he criticized the reality of technology in the country, pointing out the Chinese sector’s heavy dependence on the American “NVIDIA” chips, and its lag behind the United States in developing artificial intelligence.
The pending financing round was targeting a valuation of about $71 billion for the company, after a previous record round conducted in June that gave it a valuation of more than $50 billion. Despite this pause, sources expect negotiations to resume later as the company continues to prepare for a potential initial public offering.
