Nvidia responds to DeepSeek report; denies claims of ‘banned’ chips behind January market rout

Nvidia has denied reports that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is using smuggled Blackwell GPUs, calling the claims “far-fetched.” The US has banned these advanced chips from export to China to maintain its AI lead. DeepSeek’s previous AI model launch at a lower cost had already rattled US markets and sparked concerns about China’s AI progress.