A senior official in the administration of US President Donald Trump said that DeepSeek has used Blackwell chips - Nvidia's (US) most advanced product - to develop an AI model expected to be launched as early as next week. This move may violate US export control regulations.
The official said Washington believes DeepSeek will erase technical signs that may reveal the company's use of US-made AI chips. He said it is likely that the Blackwell chips are deployed in clusters at DeepSeek's data center in Inner Mongolia, the northern autonomous region of China.
DeepSeek's approach to Blackwell chips takes place in the context of the US tightening control over high-tech exports to China. Since 2022, Washington has restricted Chinese companies from purchasing advanced AI chips due to concerns about the risk of serving military purposes and changing the technological competitive balance.
The White House confirmed that it does not allow Nvidia to sell Blackwell chips to China. The US emphasized the need to protect core technology to ensure competitive advantage and national security.
Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang once said that this policy was "not right". He said the control measures could cause China to accelerate technological autonomy, while reducing Nvidia's revenue in the market by more than 50 billion USD.
Beijing opposes expanding the concept of national security to the field of technology trade, warning that this could damage the global supply chain.
