A senior Trump administration official has said Chinese AI startup DeepSeek trained its latest artificial intelligence model using Nvidia’s most advanced AI chip, the Blackwell — a claim that could signal a violation of U.S. export controls.
The official said the U.S. believes DeepSeek may have clustered the advanced chips in a data center located in Inner Mongolia and could attempt to remove technical indicators revealing their origin.
The Blackwell chips are produced by Nvidia and are currently barred from export to China under U.S. Commerce Department regulations.
The official declined to explain how the U.S. obtained the intelligence or how DeepSeek allegedly acquired the chips but emphasized that U.S. policy prohibits shipping Blackwell processors to China.
Nvidia declined to comment, while the U.S. Commerce Department and DeepSeek did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chinese embassy in Washington criticized what it described as the politicization of trade and technology issues, saying Beijing opposes the “overstretching” of national security concerns and expansive export controls.
The allegation could deepen divisions in Washington over how strictly to limit China’s access to advanced AI semiconductors. Some policymakers argue that restricting exports protects U.S. technological dominance and national security, while others warn that aggressive curbs could push Chinese firms to accelerate domestic chip development.
The controversy underscores the intensifying global competition over advanced AI hardware — widely regarded as a strategic asset in both commercial and military domains.
