DeepSeek seeks $71B valuation in new funding round

DeepSeek is in early talks for a new funding round at a $71 billion pre-money valuation, just weeks after closing its first round at $52 billion. The Chinese AI lab needs capital to build its own data centers and buy AI chips, while also developing its own inference chip to reduce reliance on Nvidia and Huawei. Founder Liang Wenfeng contributed about $3 billion himself.