Latest on DeepSeek's Alleged Use of NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs
As of December 11, 2025, the big story buzzing in AI and tech circles is a report alleging that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has been accessing thousands of NVIDIA's Blackwell GPUs—despite U.S. export bans—through an elaborate smuggling operation. This comes amid escalating U.S.-China tech tensions, where advanced chips like Blackwell are restricted to prevent military or strategic advantages for China. Here's a breakdown based on recent reports and discussions, drawing from U.S. media, NVIDIA's statements, and online chatter.
The Allegations
- Core Claim: According to a December 10 report by The Information, DeepSeek obtained around 2,000 Blackwell chips to train its upcoming large language model (LLM).
The scheme reportedly involves buying servers with these GPUs in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, or the UAE (not subject to U.S. bans), installing them in temporary "phantom" data centers for brief periods to evade detection, then dismantling and shipping the components piecemeal into China.
Sources (six unnamed insiders) say this allows DeepSeek to sidestep bans while keeping costs low—Blackwell's efficiency could slash training time and energy by factors of 4-5x compared to domestic alternatives like Huawei's Ascend chips.
- Why Blackwell?: NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture (B100/B200) is the gold standard for AI training, with massive leaps in performance (e.g., 20 petaFLOPS AI compute vs. 4 in prior gen).
But since October 2023 updates to U.S. export rules (tightened further in 2024), these are fully banned for China, unlike older chips like the H200, which got partial exemptions recently under the Trump administration.
- Context on DeepSeek: The Beijing-based firm, founded in 2023, has risen fast with efficient, open-source models like DeepSeek-V2, challenging U.S. players on cost (e.g., $0.14 per million tokens output vs. $2+ for GPT-4o).
This alleged access could accelerate their next model, potentially closing the gap in the global AI race.
NVIDIA's Response
- NVIDIA quickly pushed back, labeling the reports "far-fetched" and stating they've seen "no evidence" of such smuggling to DeepSeek or phantom data centers.
A spokesperson emphasized full compliance with U.S. laws and that they investigate all credible leads.
To combat smuggling broadly, NVIDIA is developing "digital leash" software for geofencing and tracking chips, amid U.S. DOJ busts like a recent $160M ring.
- Stock Impact: NVDA shares dipped ~1-2% on December 10 amid the news but stabilized today.
Analysts see it as noise, with Blackwell demand still booming globally.
$英偉達(NVDA)$ why it drops after very good news recently ?!
Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.
