DeepSeek somehow acquires NVIDIA H100 AI GPUs, after US bans NVIDIA from selling chips to China

Chinese AI giant DeepSeek is helping Chinese military and intelligence operators access NVIDIA H100 AI GPUs, even after the US government banned NVIDIA from handing the AI chips to China

DeepSeek has been using shell companies operating in Southeast Asia to access high-end semiconductors that can't be shipped to China under tightened US export restrictions.

A senior State Department official told Reuters in an interview: "We understand that DeepSeek has willingly provided and will likely continue to provide support to China's military and intelligence operations. This effort goes above and beyond open-source access to DeepSeek's AI models".

The senior State Department official added that DeepSeek is sharing user information and statistics with China's surveillance networks. Chinese law requires companies operating in China to provide data to the Chinese government when requested, and the suggestions that DeepSeek is doing exactly that raises serious privacy concerns, among other concerns for the company and its tens of millions of daily users across the planet.

Reuters reports that the senior State Department official said DeepSeek is using workarounds on the tightening US export restrictions due to Washington's worries that China could use the AI GPUs to advance China's military capabilities, or get an increased foothold in the AI race.

The official added: "DeepSeek sought to use shell companies in Southeast Asia to evade export controls, and DeepSeek is seeking to access data centers in Southeast Asia to remotely access U.S. chips".