Chinese AI startup DeepSeek recently launched the high-performance AI model R1 at a low cost, shaking Silicon Valley. The U.S. is now investigating whether DeepSeek purchased advanced chips from NVIDIA through a third party in Singapore to circumvent U.S. export control measures on high-tech chips. (Background: DeepSeek suffered a data security disaster! Over 1 million data leaks, API keys, and user conversation records were fully exposed) (Additional context: OpenAI angrily accused DeepSeek of infringement, creators sarcastically responded: the biggest thief shouts to catch the thief, and the U.S. Navy ordered a ban on DeepSeek) Chinese AI startup DeepSeek recently announced the new AI model DeepSeek-R1, which has performance comparable to OpenAI's latest o1, causing a stir. DeepSeek previously claimed that it only used 2048 downgraded NVIDIA H800 chips and took 2 months to train the DeepSeek-V3 model with 671 billion parameters. However, this claim has raised doubts, as Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang stated last week that DeepSeek did not develop advanced models comparable to OpenAI 4o and o1 using low-tier chips as claimed. He believes DeepSeek has about 50,000 of NVIDIA's most advanced H100 chips, but they cannot discuss this publicly due to ongoing U.S. export controls. Did DeepSeek buy NVIDIA chips through Singapore? According to a report by Bloomberg on Friday, insiders revealed that the U.S. government is investigating whether DeepSeek procured advanced NVIDIA chips through a third party in Singapore to avoid U.S. export restrictions on AI chips. Officials from the White House and the FBI are trying to ascertain whether DeepSeek used Singaporean intermediaries to acquire NVIDIA AI chips banned from being exported to China. Earlier this week, NVIDIA issued a statement regarding DeepSeek, stating that the Chinese company had not violated U.S. export controls. Now, a NVIDIA spokesperson has reiterated that the company insists its partners comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and will take appropriate action if any violations are reported. Previously, Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary nominee by President Trump, stated at a Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday that DeepSeek may have evaded U.S. export controls, saying, "They purchased a large number of NVIDIA chips and found ways to evade controls; these chips power DeepSeek's AI models." Is Singapore becoming a transit point? In 2023, the Biden administration imposed restrictions on over 40 countries that could potentially act as intermediaries for China, including most of the Middle East and some Southeast Asian countries, but not Singapore. Earlier this year, the Biden administration further expanded restrictions to cover most countries in the world, with only a few U.S. allies excluded. According to regulatory documents, Singapore accounts for about 20% of NVIDIA's revenue; however, NVIDIA's spokesperson stated that revenue related to Singapore does not represent chips being shipped to China. Public documents report the "billing location" of customers rather than the "shipping location," with many customers having business entities in Singapore, but the final products are sold to the U.S. and Western countries. Related Reports OpenAI has gathered evidence of "DeepSeek infringement," using GPT distillation technology to train China's AI Deepseek R1, breaking into the "DeFAI new era." What new paths emerge with open-source and AI agents? Did DeepSeek shatter the U.S. AI industry's moat, actually a great benefit? Is there something fishy behind the GPU computing power? "FBI and White House begin investigation! U.S. suspects: DeepSeek used Singaporean front to obtain NVIDIA chips" was first published on BlockTempo (the most influential blockchain news media).

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