DeepSeek and Alibaba's funding negotiations break down, with ecosystem binding and control rights disputes becoming the focus

According to Beating monitoring, the funding negotiations between DeepSeek and Alibaba have fallen apart. In April, DeepSeek launched a massive fundraising effort, attracting major companies such as Tencent and Alibaba to participate, but the two sides ultimately failed to reach an agreement. The core conflict is that Alibaba wants to use investment to strengthen its AI ecosystem closed loop (with business units such as Tongyi and Qianwen deeply integrated into products like Taobao and Amap), while DeepSeek, as an independent model company, insists on minimizing contractual constraints and maintaining technological independence, and is unwilling to accept excessive ecosystem binding. DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has long refused external equity financing; although this time he opened the door for the first time, his bottom line remains unchanged—he values offers with “the fewest additional conditions” the most.

DeepSeek’s current round of funding is valued at about 3000 billion RMB (about 450 billion USD). The fundraising focus is on supplementing computing power and R&D funds, while also providing employees with a market valuation anchor to retain talent. Tencent had proposed subscribing for up to 20% of the shares, but DeepSeek declined it because it does not want to give up a large share of control rights. Ultimately, China National Investment Fund and others may lead the investment, and the terms are relatively more relaxed, which better aligns with DeepSeek’s technical idealism.