Surpassing 300 billion yuan, Chinese AI startups have absorbed massive capital in just half a year. Where do the 77 financing deals each valued at over 100 million yuan flow to?

In the first half of 2026, large-scale financing events in the global AI industry chain occurred intensively.

According to incomplete statistics from Zhidx, in the first half of 2026, there were a total of 165 financing events of over 100 million yuan in the global AI industry chain, with a total financing amount of about 2.7 trillion yuan. Among them, Chinese and American enterprises are the absolute main force: Chinese enterprises have 77 financing events of over 100 million yuan, ranking first in terms of event quantity, with a total amount of about 126.2 billion yuan; American enterprises have 71 financing events of over 100 million yuan, with a total amount of about 2.46 trillion yuan, and the financing amount is far higher than that of other countries.

Focusing on the domestic market, from a geographical perspective, domestic AI financing of over 100 million yuan is mainly concentrated in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen. Among them, Beijing has the largest number of financing events, with a total of 42 in the first half of the year; although the number of projects in Hangzhou is less than that in Beijing, driven by DeepSeek's single financing of 50 billion yuan, its total financing ranks first in terms of amount.

From the perspective of sectors, on the one hand, the financing of over 100 million yuan in the domestic AI industry chain continues to flow to underlying capabilities such as foundation models, computing power and reasoning deployment, and on the other hand, it spreads to application scenarios such as video generation, AI Agent, healthcare, and enterprise services.

From the perspective of enterprises, DeepSeek, StepFun, Moonshot AI are the three domestic companies with the highest financing amount in the first half of the year, and the total cumulative financing of the three is about 90 billion yuan.

Expanding to the entire Chinese AI primary market, the financing boom is also continuing to rise. According to reports from IT Juzi, in the first half of 2026, the total financing amount of Chinese AI startups exceeded 300 billion yuan. However, this statistical caliber covers a wider range of companies, covering fields such as embodied intelligence and chips, and includes both financing projects of over 100 million yuan and financing projects below 100 million yuan. In only 6 months, the financing volume of Chinese AI startups has exceeded that of the whole year of 2025.

Where did the funds from the financing of the AI industry chain in the first half of the year mainly flow? What is the specific situation of financing for Chinese and American AI enterprises? What are the segmented directions of domestic AI financing and which leading companies are there? This article sorts out the financing of over 100 million yuan in the AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 from dimensions such as global financing distribution, domestic financing geographical distribution, financing rounds, enterprise establishment time, sector distribution, and enterprises with huge financing.

Zhidx sorts out the basic situation, financing amount, main business and main investors of domestic AI industry chain financing projects of over 100 million yuan in the first half of 2026 as follows:

▲Statistics on financing of over 100 million yuan in the domestic AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 (produced by Zhidx) (Statistics period: January 2026 - June 2026)

01.

165 Global Financing Events of Over 100 Million Yuan

China Ranks First in Quantity, the United States Leads in Amount

According to statistics from Zhidx, in the first half of 2026, there were a total of 165 financing events of over 100 million yuan in the global AI industry chain, with total financing amount exceeding 2.7 trillion yuan.

From the perspective of the number of financing events, China and the United States are the two most concentrated markets for financing in the global AI industry chain. Among them, Chinese enterprises have a total of 77 financing events of over 100 million yuan, and American enterprises have a total of 71. The two together account for nearly 90% of the total. Countries such as the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, France, Argentina, Australia, Saudi Arabia also have financing events of over 100 million yuan, but the quantity gap with China and the United States is obvious.

▲Regional distribution of financing of over 100 million yuan in the global AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 (produced by Zhidx)

From the perspective of financing amount, American enterprises have more obvious advantages. According to statistics from Zhidx, the total financing amount of over 100 million yuan of American enterprises is about 2.46 trillion yuan, accounting for about 91.2%; the total financing amount of over 100 million yuan of Chinese enterprises is about 126.3 billion yuan, accounting for about 4.7%; the total financing amount of enterprises in other countries is about 110 billion yuan, accounting for about 4.1%.

▲Distribution of financing amount of 100 million-yuan level in the global AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 (produced by Zhidx)

The United States has a large lead in financing amount, which is mainly driven by leading enterprises such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. Among them, the two strategic investments disclosed by OpenAI in the first half of this year totaled 232 billion US dollars (about 1.56 trillion yuan); the two rounds of financing of Anthropic totaled 95 billion US dollars (about 638.4 billion yuan).

Before being acquired by SpaceX, xAI completed the E-round financing of 200 billion US dollars (about 1.344 trillion yuan) in January. The three companies alone have disclosed large-scale financing of over 2.33 trillion yuan in total in the first half of this year, which directly raised the total amount of 100 million-yuan level financing in the global AI industry chain.

From the perspective of financing rounds, Round A financing is the most, with 31 events in total; Round B has 22 events, Seed Round has 20 events, strategic investment has 17 events, Angel Round has 14 events, and Round C and Pre-A Round each have 13 events. On the whole, 100 million-yuan level financing mainly occurs in the early and mid-term stages of enterprise establishment.

▲Distribution of 100 million-yuan level financing rounds in the global AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 (produced by Zhidx)

02.

77 Domestic Financing Events of Over 100 Million Yuan

Beijing Has the Most Projects, Hangzhou Has the Highest Financing Amount

Focusing on the domestic market, according to incomplete statistics from Zhidx, there were 77 financing events of over 100 million yuan in China's AI industry chain in the first half of 2026, with a total financing amount of about 126.2 billion yuan.

From the perspective of geographical distribution, Beijing is the most concentrated city for domestic AI financing, with a total of 42 financing events of over 100 million yuan in the first half of the year; Shanghai ranks second with 16 events; Hangzhou and Shenzhen have 6 and 5 events respectively; Guangzhou, Hefei, and Suzhou each have 2 events, and Jiaxing and Xiamen each have 1 event.

▲Regional distribution of financing of over 100 million yuan in China's AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 (produced by Zhidx)

From the perspective of financing amount, Hangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai rank top three. Among them, the total financing amount of over 100 million yuan events in Hangzhou is about 50.7 billion yuan, which is mainly driven by DeepSeek's 50 billion yuan Round A financing; the financing amount of Beijing is about 46.34 billion yuan, and the financing amount of Shanghai is about 26.83 billion yuan. The financing amount of cities such as Shenzhen, Hefei, Suzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, and Jiaxing is relatively small.

▲Regional distribution of financing amount of over 100 million yuan in China's AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 (produced by Zhidx)

From the perspective of financing rounds, the financing of over 100 million yuan in the domestic AI industry chain is still mainly concentrated in the early and mid-term stages. Angel Round is the most, with 13 events in total; Pre-A Round has 12 events; Round A has 11 events; Round B+ has 8 events; Seed Round has 7 events; Round A+ and Round B each have 6 events. Strategic investment and Round C each have 4 events, Pre-IPO and Round D each have 2 events, Round E and Round C+ each have 1 event.

▲Distribution of financing rounds of over 100 million yuan in China's AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 (produced by Zhidx)

From the perspective of enterprise establishment time, the companies that obtained financing of over 100 million yuan in the domestic AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 as a whole show the obvious feature of "intensive financing of new companies".

These 77 financing events correspond to 58 enterprises, many of which were established around 2023. Companies such as DeepSeek, StepFun, Moonshot AI, Silicon Flow, Shengshu Technology, and Sanqi Wanwu are all new batches of AI startups that grew rapidly after the boom of large models started. They carry out businesses around general large models, AI infrastructure, video generation, 3D generation, AI Agent and other directions.

▲Establishment time of enterprises in China's AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 (produced by Zhidx)

On the whole, domestic AI financing of over 100 million yuan shows strong concentration in both geographical distribution and enterprise stages. Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen are the main highlands of financing, among which Beijing has the largest number of projects, covering multiple directions such as large models, AI applications, world models, and AI Infra; Hangzhou has the highest financing amount, which is mainly driven by DeepSeek's single large-scale financing.

At the same time, most enterprises that obtain financing of over 100 million yuan were established around 2023, indicating that the new batch of AI startups that grew up after the large model boom has become an important financing subject in the domestic AI primary market.

03.

DeepSeek Leads the Financing List

The Top Five Companies Have Raised Nearly 100 Billion Yuan in Half a Year

From the perspective of cumulative financing amount of enterprises, the top five companies in terms of financing amount in the domestic AI industry chain in the first half of 2026 are DeepSeek, StepFun, Moonshot AI, HuaShen AI Pharma, and Silicon Flow. Among them, DeepSeek's cumulative financing in the first half of the year reached 50 billion yuan, ranking first; StepFun's cumulative financing is about 21.8 billion yuan, ranking second; Moonshot AI's cumulative financing is about 18.14 billion yuan, ranking third; HuaShen AI Pharma's cumulative financing is about 5.29 billion yuan; Silicon Flow's cumulative financing exceeds 3.48 billion yuan.