Insider: CATL is planning to participate in DeepSeek funding.

Mars Finance reports that on May 23, two insiders revealed that CATL plans to participate in the financing round of the domestic artificial intelligence company DeepSeek. DeepSeek’s first round of financing targets about 50 billion yuan, which may be completed as early as next month. After the transaction is completed, the company’s valuation may exceed 350 billion yuan. JD.com and NetEase have also reportedly been in talks to participate, but the final participating investors and amounts may still be adjusted.

In recent years, CATL has been accelerating its expansion of AI data center infrastructure business. In addition to power batteries, it also provides data centers with backup power batteries and energy storage systems. Earlier this month, a company affiliated with CATL invested $942 million in GDS and also invested in Zhongheng Electric, a manufacturer of data center power supply systems. The report notes that DeepSeek has built its own data center in Inner Mongolia and is recruiting data center operations and maintenance personnel there.

Due to the rapid growth in demand for AI computing power, data centers’ need for energy storage and stable power supply is increasing in tandem, and CATL is using this opportunity to further move into the AI infrastructure track. Previously, reports said DeepSeek’s current round of financing has attracted attention from multiple Chinese capital sources, including the national AI investment fund and technology giants. DeepSeek has not yet achieved large-scale revenue, but its low-cost open-source models have already created competitive pressure for companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.