(Dec 10): Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has relied on Nvidia Corp chips that are banned in the country to develop an upcoming AI model, according to a new report in The Information.
Nvidia’s Blackwell chips were smuggled into China via countries that permitted their sale, the report said, citing anonymous sources. The report said that servers containing the chips were dismantled before arriving in China.
A representative for DeepSeek didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeepSeek drew global attention in January when it debuted an AI model that was competitive with Silicon Valley’s best at a fraction of the cost. The start-up was funded by the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, which had amassed 10,000 Nvidia GPUs in 2021, prior to US bans on exports of sophisticated Nvidia chips and other graphics processing units.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump granted Nvidia permission to ship to China an older version of its AI accelerators, H200. An export ban on its more powerful Blackwell version remains in place.
DeepSeek released a new model in September and indicated that it was working with Chinese chipmakers on the model.
See also: Trump signs order seeking to limit state-level AI regulation
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