DeepSeek Hires CITIC Securities to Prepare for A-Share STAR Market IPO
nashnova research
DeepSeek has hired CITIC Securities to prepare a Shanghai STAR Market IPO, aiming to launch the process this year; this means the AI company — now valued at roughly $75 billion — is formally pivoting from private funding to public markets.
How far along is the IPO?
Reuters, citing two sources, reports DeepSeek has engaged CITIC Securities as its listing sponsor, targeting a STAR Market IPO process this year.
This means → the IPO has moved past the "whether to list" stage into active preparation. Under mainland A-share rules, hiring a sponsor for pre-filing tutoring is a mandatory step before formal application.
Deal size, fundraising target, and valuation are all undetermined. Neither DeepSeek nor CITIC Securities commented.
Where does the money stand?
In June, DeepSeek closed a round of roughly $7.4 billion, lifting its post-money valuation above $50 billion.
Founder Liang Wenfeng personally invested RMB 20 billion; Tencent put in RMB 10 billion and CATL RMB 5 billion, making CATL the largest outside shareholder.
By July, Reuters reported a new round in progress at a valuation of roughly RMB 500 billion (about $75 billion).
In plain terms = in under two months the valuation leapt from the $50 billion range toward $75 billion — that pace alone creates urgency to list.
Why the rush to go public?
Sources say Liang wants IPO proceeds to fund more competitive equity incentives for key engineers and researchers.
This means → the primary driver is not a cash shortfall but talent retention — rivals like ByteDance and Xiaomi have deeper pockets, and the talent war is intensifying.
This reflects a broader AI-industry dynamic: rising costs for compute, data centers, and engineering talent are pushing private-funding ceilings closer, making public markets a near-necessity.
Is everyone else lining up too?
In China, Zhipu AI and MiniMax have already listed in Hong Kong; Moonshot has reportedly filed a confidential Hong Kong IPO application at a valuation of roughly $50 billion.
In the US, some Anthropic investors estimate an IPO valuation as high as $2 trillion; OpenAI's listing expectations reach up to $1 trillion.
In plain terms = Chinese and US AI companies are racing for the same window — locking in public-market capital while investor appetite for AI holds.
The valuation gap between Chinese and US AI firms partly reflects differences in monetization capability.
What to watch next?
The key milestone is when DeepSeek formally files its listing application with regulators — that will signal whether the timeline stays on track.
STAR Market reviews typically take time; launching the process this year does not mean trading this year — several regulatory gates still lie between tutoring and approval.
市场有风险，内容仅供研究参考，不构成投资建议。