[DeepSeek Valued at Nearly $45 Billion, China's 'Big Fund' Plans to Lead First-Round Financing] According to Deep潮 TechFlow on May 6, citing a report from *The Financial Times* via Reuters, China's largest state-backed semiconductor investment institution—China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund ('Big Fund')—is in negotiations to lead the first-round financing for DeepSeek. This round of financing could value the cutting-edge AI laboratory at approximately $45 billion. The report, quoting four informed sources, states that the negotiations are still ongoing.