Nvidia has dismissed a report claiming Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek used its Blackwell chips to help develop their latest model. These chipsets are banned in China under current U.S. restrictions.
In an emailed statement seen by CNBC, Nvidia responded to a report from The Information, based on unnamed sources, which was cited by Bloomberg claiming Blackwell chips were smuggled into China through countries that permit their sale.
The AI startup apparently used chips that were installed in data centres in the undisclosed countries, then proceeded to dismantle and ship to China after clearing inspection by companies developing server equipment.
An Nvidia spokesperson said it hadn’t seen “any substantiated or received tips of ‘phantom data centres constructed to deceive us or our OEM partners, then deconstructed, smuggled, and reconstructed somewhere elsewhere”. The statement continued: “While smuggling seems farfetched, we pursue any tip we receive”.
The news comes the same week US President Donald Trump gave Nvidia permission 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 block on advanced AI semiconductors being shipped to China, resulting in AI developers accessing hardware through data centres located outside of the country, Bloomberg reported.
Domestic push
DeepSeek rocked the global AI market at the start of 2025 when it showed off its R1 AI model, which experts stated had been built at the fraction of the cost of rival options such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The company was founded by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, which amassed 10,000 Nvidia GPUs in 2021, before US export rules came into force, Bloomberg’s report added.
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.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: DeepSeek
