A U.S. lawmaker has alleged that Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) provided technical assistance to Chinese AI startup DeepSeek.
Nvidia Technical Support Allegedly Boosted DeepSeek’s Efficiency
Nvidia helped DeepSeek improve the efficiency of its artificial intelligence models, according to a letter sent to the U.S. Commerce Department by Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House Select Committee on China.
The letter, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, says documents obtained by the committee show that Nvidia’s engineers helped DeepSeek improve its AI by optimizing algorithms, software and hardware.
This allowed DeepSeek to train powerful models using far fewer computing resources than U.S. developers usually need, Moolenaar wrote.
The representative wrote that internal Nvidia records claimed DeepSeek’s AI training required just 2.788 million GPU hours using Nvidia’s H800 chips.
This is well below the level commonly associated with frontier-scale AI models produced by U.S. companies such as OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google and Anthropic.
Nvidia, China Push Back As Chip Policy Debate Intensifies
In a statement to Benzinga, Nvidia said China does not rely on U.S. chips for military use.
“China has more than enough domestic chips for all of its military applications,” the company said, adding it would make little sense for Beijing to depend on American technology.
“The Administration’s critics are unintentionally promoting the interests of foreign competitors,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
In a statement to Reuters, China’s embassy in Washington criticized the allegations, accusing the U.S. of politicizing trade and technology issues.
DeepSeek’s AI Breakthrough Raises US Security Concerns
DeepSeek drew global attention early last year after unveiling AI models that rivaled leading U.S. systems despite being developed with far less computing power.
The breakthrough intensified concerns in Washington that China could narrow the AI gap even as the U.S. restricts exports of advanced chips.
U.S. officials have since said they believe DeepSeek’s technology has been used to support China’s military, though Moolenaar acknowledged there was no public evidence of military links at the time Nvidia provided assistance.
“Nvidia treated DeepSeek accordingly — as a legitimate commercial partner deserving of standard technical support,” Moolenaar wrote.
Trump Approves Limited Nvidia H200 Chip Sales To China
The dispute comes as the Donald Trump administration approved restricted sales of Nvidia’s newer H200 chips to China. The move drew bipartisan criticism.
“Chips sales to ostensibly non-military end users in China will inevitably result in violations of military end-use restrictions,” Moolenaar warned.
Under the new framework unveiled earlier this month, Chinese buyers must show they have adequate security measures in place and formally confirm that the chips will not be used for military purposes.
Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said that Chinese approvals would appear in customer orders rather than through public announcements.
The company has also tightened its commercial terms, now requiring Chinese buyers to pay in full upfront and agree to strict contract conditions.
Price Action: On Wednesday, Nvidia closed at $191.52, up 1.59% and fell 0.64% to $190.29 in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro.
Nvidia shows strong price momentum across short, medium and long-term periods, despite a low value ranking, according to Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Hepha1st0s on Shutterstock.com
Recent Comments