US mulls penalties to block DeepSeek from buying American technology

The Trump management is weighing penalties that would artifact China’s DeepSeek from buying U.S. exertion and is debating barring Americans’ entree to its services, nan New York Times reported connected Wednesday.

The motorboat of China’s low-cost AI model, DeepSeek, has rattled nan AI ecosystem. The U.S. authorities has since taken steps to ace down connected nan Chinese start-up and its support from spot shaper Nvidia.

Nvidia’s AI chips person been a cardinal attraction of U.S. export controls, arsenic U.S. officials purpose to forestall nan astir precocious chips from being sold to China successful an effort to support a lead successful nan AI race.

The Trump administration this week moved to restrict Nvidia’s waste of AI chips to China.

Low-cost Chinese AI model DeepSeek has rattled nan AI ecosystem. REUTERS

The U.S. House Select Committee connected China said successful a study that “it has sent a general missive to Nvidia demanding answers astir income to China and Southeast Asia to analyse whether and really its chips ended up powering DeepSeek’s AI models—despite U.S. export restrictions.”

Nvidia warned connected Tuesday of a $5.5 cardinal hit after Washington restricted exports of its H20 AI spot to China. The move to restrict H20 shipments is Trump’s latest effort to limit China’s entree to precocious semiconductors.

The U.S. has banned exports of Nvidia’s astir precocious chips to China since 2022, concerned that precocious technologies could beryllium utilized by China to build up its subject capabilities.

DeepSeek, White location and nan Commerce Department did not instantly respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.