DeepSeek reportedly pauses second funding round amid market and geopolitical scrutiny

Chinese artificial intelligence pioneer DeepSeek has verbally informed prospective investors that it is suspending its second fundraising round, according to people familiar with the matter cited by <em>Bloomberg</em>. The unexpected halt comes just days after leaked transcripts attributed to founder Liang Wenfeng sparked widespread online discussion about China's reliance on US hardware and its technological lag relative to American rivals.