Research Says China's Leading AI Models Trained on Export-Banned Nvidia Chips

A new analysis by U.S. nonprofit research group Unemployment Labs found evidence that leading open-weight AI models from Chinese companies were trained using Nvidia's Blackwell processors, which U.S. export controls prohibit from being shipped to China or Chinese-owned firms.

Will DePue, a former OpenAI researcher who leads Unemployment Labs, analyzed the weights of models released openly by DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and Ant Group. The analysis identified hardware-related patterns in releases including Moonshot's Kimi K3 releases and DeepSeek's V4 models.

Models and chips

The six models analyzed include DeepSeek's V4-Flash and V4-Pro, Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 and K3.1-Pro, MiniMax's M3, and Ant Group's Ling-3.1-Flash, all released after April of this year, according to SBS News. The report said DeepSeek-V4-Flash and MiniMax-M3 matched the computational characteristics of the B200 and B300 chips, while four other models, including Kimi K3 and DeepSeek-V4-Pro, matched the characteristics of the GB200 and GB300 chips, which combine Grace central processing units.

The Blackwell chip is Nvidia's cutting-edge AI accelerator released in February of last year, serving as its latest product until its successor, the Rubin chip, went on sale in July of this year.

What the analysis does and does not show

The researchers clarified that the analysis was based on hardware evidence left in the models and did not directly confirm the physical locations of the actual chips or prove violations of export control laws. The findings do not establish where the training took place, which chips were used for every stage of development, or whether any export-control rules were broken. The models could have been trained in part on Nvidia hardware located outside mainland China, including at offshore data centers.

Broader context

Epoch AI, a nonprofit research organization, estimates that about two million advanced chips entered China in 2024 and 2025 through schemes designed to hide their final destination. Epoch's data estimates that 275,000 Nvidia AI accelerators were imported to Malaysia in 2024 and 2025.

White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios said earlier this year that Moonshot had used export-banned Nvidia chips, citing U.S. intelligence sources. That statement, like DePue's findings, does not by itself establish where the chips were located or whether their use violated U.S. law.

The Trump administration has permitted some exports to China of the H200, based on the Hopper architecture which is the predecessor to Blackwell, but has never approved the export of Blackwell and Rubin chips.

Nvidia and Jensen Huang

Former CEO Jensen Huang was dismissed on the 12th after his affair with Alice Huang and extramarital relationships with other female executives within the company were exposed, according to SBS News. Alice Huang is suspected of being a Chinese spy and exploiting an affair with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to smuggle advanced AI chips into China, according to SBS News. Alice Huang has also been alleged to be an agent of China's intelligence service, according to TechCrunch.

Megaspeed, the company led by Alice Huang, has been at the center of that trade for several years through its subsidiary Speedmatrix, and has been the subject of investigations by both the U.S. and Singaporean government, according to TechCrunch. Bloomberg also reported that a company with links to Alice Huang was involved in smuggling banned Nvidia chips to a data center in Shanghai, according to TechCrunch.

Nvidia and Huang have both vouched for Megaspeed's data centers, saying Nvidia officials had visited them to confirm they were legitimate, according to TechCrunch.

Why it matters

The analysis adds to scrutiny of Nvidia's exposure to Chinese demand and the effectiveness of U.S. export restrictions. The restrictions are intended to limit Chinese access to the computing power needed to develop advanced AI, but controls focused on where chips are shipped or installed may not prevent Chinese companies from using them elsewhere.

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Sources

• techcrunch.com: Export-banned Nvidia chips are behind China's most powerful AI models — uh-oh, Jensen! | TechCrunch
• news.sbs.co.kr: US Lab: China's DeepSeek and Kimi Trained on Nvidia's Most Advanced Chips
• news.ssbcrack.com: Research Claims Chinese AI Models Were Trained on Export-Banned Nvidia Blackwell Chips - SSBCrack News

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.