Key Points
- The U.S. is investigating whether DeepSeek obtained restricted Nvidia GPUs via intermediaries in Singapore.
- DeepSeek’s R1 model matches OpenAI and Google’s top AI models, raising concerns about its computing resources.
- Singapore’s share of Nvidia’s revenue grew from 9% to 22% in two years, fueling speculation of a trade loophole.
- Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick has pledged to enforce strict trade rules on AI chip exports.
The U.S. government is investigating whether DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, acquired restricted Nvidia GPUs through intermediaries in Singapore, bypassing export restrictions. Bloomberg reports that concerns have escalated as DeepSeek’s AI model R1 has demonstrated capabilities comparable to OpenAI and Google’s leading models. Additionally, Singapore’s share of Nvidia’s revenue has risen sharply from 9% to 22% over two years, raising suspicions about its role in circumventing U.S. trade rules.
DeepSeek has not disclosed the specific hardware used to train its R1 model. However, the company previously confirmed it used 2,048 Nvidia H800 GPUs to train its V3 model, which has 671 billion parameters, in just two months. This level of efficiency—2.8 million GPU hours compared to Meta’s 30.8 million GPU hours for training Llama 3—has led analysts to speculate that R1 was trained on even more powerful hardware, possibly including restricted GPUs like the H100.
These suspicions have prompted the White House and the FBI to investigate whether DeepSeek obtained restricted Nvidia GPUs through third-party companies in Singapore. While officials have not yet confirmed any legal violations, Nvidia maintains that it follows all applicable trade laws.
The U.S. has tightened restrictions on AI chip exports to China for years. In 2023, the Biden administration imposed new rules limiting the performance of GPUs that could be sold to China without an export license. However, Singapore was not included in the list of restricted countries, leading some to suspect that Chinese firms may have used it as a loophole to acquire high-end Nvidia chips.
In response, U.S. lawmakers, including Representatives John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi, have called for stricter licensing requirements unless Singapore increases oversight on its shipments. Nvidia, however, denies any wrongdoing, stating that its revenue reports reflect “bill to” locations rather than the actual destinations of shipments. The company insists that most sales to Singapore are for products destined for Western markets.
Meanwhile, Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, has alleged that DeepSeek successfully bypassed U.S. restrictions. He has vowed to take a tough stance on chip sales enforcement if confirmed.
