Dan Howley said DeepSeek is preparing for an IPO, after reported the Chinese LLM developer may file as soon as this year. The reported timing also puts 2027 on the table if a filing does not come this year. DeepSeek’s path now runs through both private fundraising and a possible public listing.
“Deep Seek is an open source uh AI model, right?” Howley said in the Yahoo Finance segment explaining the company. He also said, “We were able to train this on uh low powered uh uh AI chips uh and we have, you know, this great kind of uh capability.”
Dan Howley on DeepSeek
Howley described DeepSeek as part of the open source side of the AI market, where developers can use a model’s code and adapt it more freely than in a closed system. He added, “Why don't we just use that, right?” and compared the appeal to “why not get a Camry?”
That framing matters because ’s report ties the company’s fundraising plans to the same product pitch that drew attention in the first place. DeepSeek’s R1 model drew notice for claims that it was trained on low powered AI chips, which put the company into a different conversation from model developers that rely on heavier infrastructure from the start.
on DeepSeek funds
said DeepSeek is seeking to raise more funds in the private market ahead of any IPO. The report did not lay out the amount, but it did leave two timing windows in play: a filing as soon as this year, or a later path that points to 2027.
For developers weighing open source models against closed models, the practical tradeoff is clear in the source material. Open source models can be easier to test and adopt, while larger AI models still need high power processors to train and run. DeepSeek’s popularity comes from that lower-friction pitch, even as the company moves toward the more capital-intensive world of an IPO.
R1 and the market choice
The reported fundraising push suggests DeepSeek is trying to widen its capital base before asking public investors for support. That leaves the main unknown in the commercial side of the story: how much more money it wants from the private market before a filing.
For now, the company sits between two phases. It has already gained attention through R1 and its open source model approach, and it is now being positioned for an IPO that could arrive this year or slip to 2027.
