Chinese AI startup DeepSeek reportedly trained its latest AI model on Nvidia’s Nvidia Blackwell chip, the company’s most advanced AI chip, despite U.S. export controls prohibiting such shipments to China. A senior Trump administration official said the chips are likely located in DeepSeek’s data center in Inner Mongolia, though details on how the company obtained them remain unclear.
The official noted that DeepSeek may have removed technical indicators that could reveal the chips’ origin, raising concerns about potential violations of U.S. export law.
U.S. Government Reaction
U.S. officials have confirmed that Blackwell shipments to China remain prohibited. The Commerce Department oversees these restrictions, and earlier attempts by U.S. President Donald Trump to allow scaled-down Blackwell chips in China were later reversed to ensure the most advanced technology remains in U.S. hands.
White House AI Czar David Sacks and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argue that shipping advanced AI chips to China could discourage Chinese firms from investing in domestic development. However, China hawks warn that access to top-tier chips could accelerate military applications and threaten U.S. AI dominance.
China’s Response
Beijing condemned attempts to politicize trade and technology issues. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said authorities were unaware of the specific circumstances and reiterated China’s stance on U.S. chip export policies.
Implications for AI Development
DeepSeek is believed to have relied on a technique called “distillation,” using established models from U.S. companies like OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI to enhance its new model. This approach transfers knowledge from older, more capable models to newer ones, accelerating AI development.
Experts note that DeepSeek’s use of Blackwell chips highlights China’s shortfall in domestic AI chip production and may influence U.S. decisions regarding approvals of Nvidia’s H200 chips, a slightly less advanced alternative. The incident underscores ongoing tensions in the global AI race and challenges in enforcing export controls.
With information from Reuters.
