DeepSeek Rejects Alibaba's Ecosystem and Tencent's 20%

According to an exclusive report by Beluga Lab, Alibaba's funding talks with DeepSeek have fallen apart, with the two sides unable to agree on key terms. Multiple sources close to the deal say the core conflict was Alibaba's push for ecosystem integration — a demand that clashed with DeepSeek's insistence on staying independent.

Alibaba has been aggressively building an AI ecosystem this year. In March, it launched Alibaba Token Hub, which houses five major departments including the Tongyi Lab and Qianwen business unit. In May, it unveiled a unified AI digital human avatar and integrated its Qianwen assistant into core products like Taobao, AMap, and Alipay. This drive for a closed-loop ecosystem directly contradicts DeepSeek's identity as an independent model company.

And Alibaba isn't the only one to hit a wall. Bloomberg previously reported that Tencent offered to buy up to a 20% stake in DeepSeek — and was also turned down. DeepSeek has never accepted outside funding since its founding in 2023. Founder Liang Wenfeng has kept both tech giants and VCs at bay for nearly three years. Investors described the current situation to Beluga Lab: "Now it's investors chasing Liang Wenfeng, waiting to see who he finally picks."

Jiang Yi, managing partner at Hengye Capital, analyzed that for DeepSeek, the best financing deal is one with the fewest strings attached. Many investors believe that state capital will play a key role in the eventual investor lineup, because state-owned investors prioritize technological sovereignty over short-term commercial returns and tend to impose fewer restrictive terms.