EXCLUSIVE-China's DeepSeek trained AI model on Nvidia's best chip despite US ban, official says

By Steve Holland and Alexandra Alper

WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's latest AI model, set to be released as soon as next week, was trained on Nvidia's NVDA.O most advanced AI chip, the Blackwell, a senior Trump administration official said on Monday, in what could represent a violation of U.S. export controls.

The official said the U.S. believed DeepSeek would remove the technical indicators that might reveal its use of American AI chips. The official declined to say how the U.S. government obtained the information.

Nvidia declined to comment.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said in a statement that Beijing opposes “drawing ideological lines, overstretching the concept of national security, expansive use of export controls and politicizing economic, trade, and technological issues.”

The Commerce Department and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The official did not provide information on how DeepSeek obtained the Blackwells but noted that U.S. policy is "we're not shipping Blackwells to China," emphasizing that DeepSeek's possession of the chips could represent an export control violation.

The news, not previously reported, could further divide Washington policymakers as they struggle to determine where to draw the line on Chinese access to the crown jewels of American AI semiconductor chips.