Nvidia Denies Accusations that DeepSeek Uses Banned Chips

NVIDIA denied a report that claims Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek used its Blackwell chips. The advanced chips are banned in China because of US export restrictions.

The AI startup apparently used chips that were installed in data centers in undisclosed countries, then proceeded to dismantle and ship them to China after clearing inspection by companies developing server equipment. An Nvidia spokesperson said it hadn’t seen any substantiated evidence or received tips of ‘phantom data centers constructed to deceive them or their OEM partners, then deconstructed, smuggled, and reconstructed somewhere elsewhere. “While smuggling seems far-fetched, we pursue any tip we receive.”

The news comes the same week US President Donald Trump permitted Nvidia to ship H200 AI accelerators to China. However, a ban on the more powerful Blackwell chipsets is still in force. The US has enforced a ban on advanced AI semiconductors being shipped to China, resulting in AI developers accessing hardware through data centres located outside of the country.

Despite Trump easing chip rules this week, Chinese authorities are still pushing companies to use domestic technologies in their AI pushes. DeepSeek last released a new model in September and stated it was working with domestic companies on the offering.