China's DeepSeek used banned Nvidia chips to develop AI

Chinese company DeepSeek used banned chips Nvidia to create an AI model. About this reports The Information.

According to journalists, DeepSeek received these chips through intermediary countries, where they were first installed in data centers, and then disassembled and shipped to China. The United States continues to restrict the export of high-tech chips to China.

In November, U.S. prosecutors indicted four people for attempting to illegally supply Nvidia chips to China through Malaysia using a fictitious real estate company. Nvidia said that it has not received any confirmed reports of such actions, but is checking all reports.

In January 2025, DeepSeek announced the creation of an AI model that could compete with its American counterparts and emphasized that it had done so much cheaper. The startup is backed by the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, which purchased 10,000 Nvidia graphics cards before the US restrictions.

This week, President Donald Trump allowed the supply of older Nvidia H200 chips to China. At the same time, the ban on newer Blackwell chips remains in effect.

Recently the Chinese army has integrated DeepSeek AI into military equipment. Also DeepSeek releases experimental model V3.2-Exp for working with large texts.