Key Points
- A U.S. lawmaker alleges Nvidia provided technical assistance to the Chinese AI firm DeepSeek in 2024.
- The help allowed DeepSeek to train advanced AI models more efficiently.
- U.S. officials now believe DeepSeek’s technology is used by the Chinese military.
- The lawmaker is using this to criticize the Trump administration’s current policy of selling more powerful H200 chips to China.
A top U.S. lawmaker claims that the chip giant Nvidia provided extensive technical help to a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, DeepSeek, which is now believed to be aiding the Chinese military. The accusation comes as the Trump administration faces growing criticism for its recent decision to allow the sale of even more powerful Nvidia chips to China.
In a letter to the Commerce Secretary, Representative John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said that documents obtained from Nvidia show the company helped DeepSeek achieve “major training efficiency gains” back in 2024. This assistance allowed the Chinese startup to develop advanced AI models that rivaled U.S. offerings but with far less computing power.
At the time, Nvidia’s H800 chip was designed specifically for the Chinese market, and there was no public indication that DeepSeek had military ties. Moolenaar’s letter acknowledges that Nvidia treated DeepSeek as a “legitimate commercial partner.” However, U.S. officials now believe the company’s technology is being used by the military.
Nvidia pushed back in a statement, arguing that “it makes no sense for the Chinese military to depend on American technology” and that China has “more than enough domestic chips” for its own needs.
The revelation is fueling the debate over the Trump administration’s recent approval of H200 chip sales to China.
Moolenaar argues that this past incident proves it is impossible to prevent U.S. technology from ending up in the hands of the Chinese military, despite any restrictions or promises from buyers. He warned that sales to supposedly commercial companies in China will “inevitably result in a violation of the military end use restrictions.”
