AI Weekly Wrap: Sell-Off, DeepSeek's $15B, OpenAI's UAE Round
AI shares fell sharply on 22 October, and the week's biggest stories were about who pays for the build-out: a reported $15 billion raise for DeepSeek, a reported UAE-led round for OpenAI and a $350 billion funding hunt in South Korea. Several rest on unnamed sources or a state-media-affiliated post, so we label each one.
Key takeaways
- AI-linked shares fell worldwide on 22 October 2026. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.6% and South Korea's Kospi 3.5%, according to the Associated Press (AP) [1].
- DeepSeek is reported by Bloomberg and Reuters to be raising about 100 billion yuan (about $15 billion). DeepSeek has not confirmed it [3][4][5].
- OpenAI is reported by CNBC to be working on up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, with UAE investors and Coatue leading. Talks are not closed [8].
- SK Hyper, an SK Telecom data-centre unit, says it is seeking about $350 billion for the first 5 gigawatts of a 15-gigawatt Korean plan. No financing has closed [9][10].
1. AI shares sold off worldwide
On Thursday 22 October 2026 the S&P 500 fell 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite 2.6%, according to AP. Nvidia fell about 4.4%, Meta about 7% and CoreWeave about 10% [1]. The declines began in Asia: the Kospi fell 3.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 3% and Japan's Nikkei 225 2.7% [1].
AP links the move to worries that borrowing to build data centres and buy chips has become too expensive, and to fears that prices rose too far. It names oil as a second factor: Brent crude rose about 4% to $113.17, with worries about the war with Iran [1]. Meta beat revenue estimates but missed on profit, and announced a new class of stock to raise money for AI spending [1]. Crypto Briefing reports that the non-voting Class C shares take effect on 19 January 2027 [2]. We did not read Meta's filing. This follows our 19 October chip sell-off article.
2. DeepSeek: a reported raise and an export registration
Bloomberg reported on 22 October that DeepSeek raised about 100 billion yuan, roughly $15 billion [3][4]. Reuters, citing two people familiar, said Tencent and battery maker CATL are among its biggest investors, and that the round is still being finalised, with terms that could change [5]. DeepSeek did not comment to TechCrunch [3]. The report came two days after the US ordered federal civilian agencies to stop using DeepSeek (our 20 October article) [3].
On the same day, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, Yuyuan Tantian, said DeepSeek and MiniMax had completed registration, open-sourcing and overseas-use authorisation procedures [6][7]. That is a state-media-affiliated post, not an official announcement. Reuters notes that it names no agency, document or criteria, and that neither company replied to requests for comment [6]. It relates to China's draft export-control catalogue of 16 October covering 23 AI technologies, which the commerce ministry said would leave most AI exportable, with simpler licensing for open-source technology [6]. We found no independent confirmation. Background: our 17 October explainer.
3. OpenAI's reported round turns to the UAE
CNBC reported on 22 October, citing sources, that OpenAI is working on raising up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, led by Coatue and investors in the UAE [8]. Terms are still being negotiated, and OpenAI declined to comment [8]. An earlier Bloomberg report put the valuation at $1.4 trillion, and OpenAI's March raise valued it at $852 billion post-money, so the figures are not like-for-like [8]. The Gulf angle is in our 12 October article.
4. Compute plans: Korea's ask and Kazakhstan's GPUs
Seoul Economic Daily reported on 23 October that SK Hyper is seeking about $350 billion (463 trillion won) for the first 5 gigawatts of a planned 15 gigawatts of Korean capacity by 2035, citing its chief executive on Bloomberg TV [9][10]. A first outside investment is targeted for late 2026 or early 2027, and the chief executive called winning real customer demand the biggest challenge, since Korea's data-centre market is about 1 gigawatt today [9]. These are company targets, not closed financing.
In Central Asia, NVIDIA said on 22 October that Kazakhtelecom has 400 H200 and 480 B300 GPUs running in Astana and Almaty [11]. They are part of $10 billion in agreements signed on 15 June, which Kazakhstan's AI minister says will support a 100,000-GPU cluster [11][12]. The GPU counts and the 100,000 target are company and government claims; we found no independent check.
5. An AI-assisted bug hunt took websites offline
Two PHP flaws, CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, each rated 9.2 out of 10, were disclosed on 21 October, when fixes for supported PHP versions were released [13][14]. They can let an attacker run code on a server without logging in [13]. AI tools helped find them: OpenAI says it worked with security firms on fixes, and Newsweek credits Wiz, which Google Cloud says used several AI models [13][14].
Government websites in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France went offline or were partly unavailable, some as a precaution [13]. Palo Alto Networks counted more than 22.6 million potentially vulnerable internet-facing instances, which is not a count of breaches [13].
Where the week landed
The US, China, South Korea, the UAE, Kazakhstan and Europe are covered above, and Japan appears through the Nikkei's fall. We found no new verified AI item for India this week; the Reserve Bank of India's backup data centre is due to be inaugurated on 25 October, but the report does not call it AI-related [15]. Australia, New Zealand and Russia had no verified item.
Why it matters
Our analysis: the week split AI money into two kinds. Lab funding is still arriving, from strategic and Gulf investors, while sellers of infrastructure are asked to prove demand, as SK Hyper's own chief executive said [9]. Access rules matter too: a social-media post, not a notice, is the only public sign of DeepSeek's and MiniMax's status [6].
For readers who track markets, this is analysis, not financial advice.
What to watch next
- DeepSeek: whether the round closes in the coming days, as Reuters expects [5].
- China: an official statement on the registrations; the draft export-control comments close on 15 November.
- OpenAI: whether the valuation and investors firm up [8].
- SK Hyper: its first outside investor [9].
Our take
Our analysis: treat reported rounds as intentions until they close. The common thread this week is money and permission: who funds the build-out, and who may export what it produces.
FAQ
Has DeepSeek confirmed a $15 billion raise? No. Bloomberg and Reuters report it, and DeepSeek did not comment to TechCrunch [3][5].
Has China officially approved DeepSeek and MiniMax for export? Only a CCTV-affiliated social media account has said so [6].
Is OpenAI's new round closed? No. CNBC describes talks [8].
Sources
- AI stocks drag markets down worldwide as oil prices climb to their highest since May, Associated Press via BNN Bloomberg, 22 October 2026. Wire report.
- Meta raises AI spending floor and plans nonvoting Class C stock, Crypto Briefing, 21 October 2026. Secondary; Meta's filing not read.
- DeepSeek reportedly raises $15B days after US restrictions, TechCrunch (summarising Bloomberg), 22 October 2026.
- DeepSeek reportedly closes $15bn raise in race to IPO, Silicon Republic, 22 October 2026.
- DeepSeek nears $15 billion funding round backed by Tencent, CATL, China Daily (Reuters report), 22 October 2026.
- China's DeepSeek, MiniMax win approval for AI global use, state media-affiliated entity says, Reuters via Investing.com, 23 October 2026.
- DeepSeek, MiniMax win approval for global use, state media says, Bloomberg via The Star, 23 October 2026.
- OpenAI working on new $30B raise at $1.25T valuation ahead of IPO, TechCrunch (summarising CNBC), 22 October 2026. CNBC's own page not opened.
- SK Hyper Seeks $350 Billion for First 5GW Phase of 15GW AI Data Center Plan, Seoul Economic Daily, 23 October 2026. AI-translated from Korean.
- SK Hyper seeks finance for Korea AI data centres, Dimsum Daily, 23 October 2026.
- NVIDIA Details Kazakhstan GPU Deployments and Robotaxi Plans, Unite.AI (reporting an NVIDIA blog post), 22 October 2026.
- Kazakhstan, Firebird ink US$10bn deal with Nvidia support, Taipei Times, 16 June 2026. Headline seen in search results; page not opened.
- Critical PHP flaws put millions of websites at risk as governments pull sites offline, ABC News 4 (syndicated wire report), published after the 21 October patch release.
- Newsweek report on the PHP2Shell flaws, headline not captured, Newsweek, October 2026.
- PM Modi to inaugurate RBI data centre in Odisha, The Week, 22 October 2026.
AI Worldwire is independent and has no commercial relationship with the companies covered, unless stated. Research and drafting are assisted by AI; every article is reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. Subscribe to the AI Worldwire newsletter. Last updated: 23 October 2026.