Catenaa, Thursday, April 17, 2021- The Trump administration is weighing sanctions and access restrictions against Chinese AI firm DeepSeek amid concerns over data privacy, export violations and national security, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that officials may block DeepSeek from US technology and restrict Americans from using its services.
The move follows revelations that DeepSeek used restricted Nvidia chips and allegedly exploited US AI models to develop its own open-source chatbot, DeepSeek-V3, at a fraction of the typical development cost.
An April 16 report from the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party accused DeepSeek of funneling American data to Beijing, aligning content with CCP propaganda, and acquiring 20,000 export-restricted Nvidia chips through unauthorized channels.
“The exploitation of US innovation by adversaries must end,” said committee chair Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., adding that lawmakers have demanded Nvidia disclose its sales to customers in Asia.
The crackdown comes amid soaring trade tensions between the US and China. Washington recently imposed tariffs of up to 145% on Chinese goods and tightened chip export rules. In retaliation, China raised duties on American imports to as high as 125%.
Singaporean authorities earlier this year arrested three people suspected of illegally exporting Nvidia hardware for DeepSeek. Nvidia said it complies with US laws and that its Singapore billing data may reflect US customers’ addresses.
DeepSeek has not responded to the allegations. Multiple nations, including Italy and France, are now probing its privacy practices.
