US probing whether DeepSeek got Nvidia chips in Singapore despite export controls blocking sale: report

The Trump administration is reportedly probing whether DeepSeek bought Nvidia’s advanced computer chips through Singapore – despite US export controls blocking the sale of the powerful technology to China-based firms.Key tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey, have been skeptical of DeepSeek’s claim that it trained an AI model on par with US rivals for less than $6 million and without Nvidia’s most powerful chips.Officials at the White House and the FBI are investigating whether DeepSeek may have acquired the banned chips from third parties in Singapore to get around the ban, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.Separately, top lawmakers in the House’s select committee on China urged the Trump administration to “ensure [China] will not exploit regulatory gaps and loopholes to advance their AI ambitions.“We ask that you look for ways to strengthen controls on shipments through third countries that pose a high risk of diversion,” the letter to Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said.“For example, Singapore represented 22% of Nvidia’s revenue in its most recently quarterly statement, despite the company itself revealing most of these shipments ultimately went to users outside of Singapore.”DeepSeek’s claim of having developed an ultra-efficient chatbot so cheaply sparked a $1 trillion selloff as investors feared that Nvidia chips were less essential to the AI race than previously thought.Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang recently asserted that DeepSeek had a supply of advanced Nvidia chips it couldn’t publicly acknowledge due to the export controls.Representatives for the White House, the FBI and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Nvidia said in a statement that “we insist that our partners comply with all applicable laws, and if we receive any information to the contrary, act accordingly.” Nvidia earlier said that DeepSeek had not violated any export controls.Earlier this...