China's DeepSeek trained AI model on Nvidia's best chip despite US ban, official says

DeepSeek’s latest AI model, set to be released as soon ‌as next week, was trained on Nvidia’s most advanced AI chip, the Blackwell, a senior Trump ​administration official said

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s latest AI model, set to be released as soon ‌as next week, was trained on Nvidia’s most advanced AI chip, the Blackwell, a senior Trump ​administration official said on Monday, in what could represent a violation of U.S. export controls.

The U.S. believes ⁠DeepSeek will remove the technical indicators that might reveal its use of American AI chips, the official said, adding that the Blackwells are likely clustered at its data centre in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China.

The person declined to say how the ‌U.S. government received the information or how DeepSeek obtained the chips, but emphasised that U.S. policy is :”we’re not shipping Blackwells to China.”

Nvidia declined to comment, while the Commerce Department and DeepSeek did not respond ‌to requests for comment.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing opposes “drawing ideological lines, overstretching the concept ‌of national ⁠security, expansive use of export controls and politicizing economic, trade, and technological issues.”

U.S. government confirmation of ⁠DeepSeek obtaining the chips, first reported by Reuters, could further divide Washington policymakers as they struggle to determine where to draw the line on Chinese access to the crown jewels of American AI semiconductor chips.