BlockBeats report, on May 9, it was recently rumored that DeepSeek is initiating its first round of funding and has attracted interest from investors including Tencent and Alibaba, but Alibaba recently broke off talks with DeepSeek. Today, market insiders revealed to a reporter from Caijing that Alibaba likely never engaged in negotiations.
BlockBeats today reported that, according to an exclusive article by White Whale Lab, the funding negotiations between Alibaba and DeepSeek have fallen through, as both parties failed to reach agreement on specific terms. Several individuals close to the deal pointed out that the core conflict lies in Alibaba’s desire for ecosystem integration versus DeepSeek’s insistence on independence. This year, Alibaba has fully advanced its efforts to connect its AI ecosystem: in March, it established the Alibaba Token Hub, comprising five divisions including Tongyi Lab and Qwen Business Unit; in May, it unveiled a unified AI digital human avatar and integrated Qwen Assistant into core products such as Taobao, Amap, and Alipay. This demand for an ecosystem闭环 (closed-loop ecosystem) directly conflicts with DeepSeek’s positioning as an independent model company.