On January 30, a source revealed that the U.S. Commerce Department is investigating whether DeepSeek, a Chinese company known for its AI model's performance, might have been using U.S. chips prohibited for export to China.
Recently, DeepSeek introduced a cost-effective assistant requiring minimal data usage, quickly becoming the top downloaded app in Apple's App Store. This occurrence raised concerns about the U.S.'s AI dominance, resulting in a significant drop of approximately $1 trillion in U.S. technology stocks.
The current limitations on Nvidia’s AI processors aim to prevent advanced chips from reaching China. Reports indicate organized smuggling of AI chips to China through countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.
Both the Commerce Department and DeepSeek were unavailable for immediate comment, and Nvidia emphasized compliance with all relevant regulations through its partners.
DeepSeek mentioned the use of Nvidia's legal H800 chips, but it remains unclear if any other restricted chips were utilized. Additionally, DeepSeek reportedly has Nvidia's permissible H20 chips, which were under consideration for control during the Biden administration transition.
Dario Amodei, CEO of AI firm Anthropic, recently expressed concerns about DeepSeek's chip inventory possibly containing banned, pre-ban, and smuggled chips.
With a series of export restrictions, the U.S. has imposed limitations on AI chip exports to China and plans to regulate exports to various other nations.