Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has closed its first-ever external funding round, raising more than 50 billion yuan, or roughly $7.4 billion. The valuation exceeds $50 billion — making the Hangzhou-based company China’s most valuable AI startup, according to consistent reporting. By international standards, however, the figure remains modest: US rival OpenAI recently closed a round of $122 billion at a valuation of around $852 billion, while Anthropic raised $65 billion. The disparity is largely