Ningde Times is planning to participate in DeepSeek's financing

Two informed sources revealed that CATL plans to participate in the financing activities of the domestic artificial intelligence company DeepSeek. DeepSeek's first round of financing aims for approximately 50 billion yuan, which may be completed as early as next month, and after the transaction, the company's valuation may exceed 350 billion yuan. JD.com and NetEase have also been reported to be in talks to invest, but the final investors and amounts may still be adjusted.

In recent years, CATL has been accelerating its layout in the AI data center infrastructure business. In addition to power batteries, it also provides backup power batteries and energy storage systems for data centers. Earlier this month, a CATL affiliate invested $942 million in GDS Holdings and invested in the power supply system manufacturer Zhongheng Electric.

Reports indicate that DeepSeek has built its own data center in Inner Mongolia and is currently recruiting data center operations and maintenance personnel in Inner Mongolia. Due to the rapid growth in AI computing power demand, the demand for energy storage and stable power supply in data centers has also increased, allowing CATL to further enter the AI infrastructure track.

Previous reports stated that DeepSeek's current round of financing has attracted attention from several 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 model has already created competitive pressure on companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.