Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s annualized revenue run rate has hit $1 billion — more than double from a few months ago — The Information reported on Thursday, September 24, 2026, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter, according to Reuters.
A run-rate figure shows how much a company would make in a year if it kept performing at its current pace. It is not the same as audited full-year revenue. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report, and DeepSeek could not be immediately reached for comment.
CEO Liang Wenfeng shared the figure at a recent meeting with investors as DeepSeek pushes a second funding round targeting 50 billion yuan (about $7.45 billion) at a valuation of 500 billion yuan by the end of October, The Information reported. The outlet also said DeepSeek is preparing for a potential listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Revenue growth was partly driven by raising model pricing by 2.3 to 4.5 times, The Information said via Reuters. Liang told investors the company still puts most of its compute into training — more than 70% — while reserving less than 30% for inference, the running of existing models.
Earlier this month DeepSeek released DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash, pitched for greater capability, faster inference, higher throughput, and scaling to larger models. Separately, Reuters reported this month that DeepSeek had hired CITIC Securities to prepare for a potential STAR Market IPO, with timing, valuation, and fundraising size still undecided — a process already covered on AI Tech Daily and not the focus of this brief.
This brief covers the reported $1 billion annualized run rate, the Information-sourced funding and listing context, and the pricing and compute mix Liang described to investors. It does not invent ARR margins, user counts, or an IPO timetable DeepSeek has not disclosed.