Research Says Chinese AI Models Show Signs of Training on Export-Banned Nvidia Chips

A new analysis of openly released AI models from Chinese companies found evidence that some were trained using Nvidia’s Blackwell processors, which U.S. export controls prohibit from being shipped to China.

Will DePue, a former OpenAI researcher who leads the nonprofit Unemployment Labs, examined the model weights of large language models released openly by DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and Ant Group. He identified hardware-related patterns in releases including Moonshot’s Kimi K3 releases and DeepSeek’s V4 models.

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. Chinese companies have used such facilities to obtain computing capacity, with Malaysia emerging as one destination.

Research findings

• Will DePue of Unemployment Labs analyzed model weights from DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and Ant Group.
• He found evidence that Moonshot’s Kimi K3 releases and DeepSeek’s V4 models bear fingerprints from training on Blackwell chips.
• The analysis does not prove where training occurred or whether export-control laws were violated.

Policy and trade context

• Nvidia’s Blackwell processors are prohibited from export to China and Chinese-owned firms.
• The Trump administration has permitted exports of the less powerful H200 chip under conditions that include a shipping route intended to allow the United States to collect a 25% tariff.
• Epoch AI estimates that about two million advanced chips entered China in 2024 and 2025 through arrangements intended to obscure their final destination.
• Epoch AI also estimated that 275,000 Nvidia AI accelerators were imported to Malaysia over the same period.
• White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios said earlier this year that Moonshot had used Nvidia chips barred from export, citing U.S. intelligence sources.

Company and government scrutiny

• Megaspeed, led by Alice Huang, has been linked to the trade in Nvidia computing capacity through its subsidiary Speedmatrix. The companies have faced scrutiny from U.S. and Singaporean authorities.
• Bloomberg has separately reported that a company connected to Alice Huang was involved in moving restricted Nvidia chips to a data center in Shanghai.
• A May report by short-selling firm Culper Research argued that Nvidia had significant exposure to Chinese demand, including through remote data centers and alleged smuggling. Those claims have not, on their own, established that Nvidia knowingly violated export controls.
• Nvidia and Jensen Huang have previously vouched for Megaspeed’s data centers, saying Nvidia personnel visited the facilities and found them legitimate.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose department oversees chip-export licensing, could face political consequences following reports that investigators failed to identify suspicious buyers and were overly close to Nvidia officials.

Why it matters

The analysis adds to debate over whether U.S. export controls can prevent restricted hardware from supporting Chinese AI development when chips can be deployed in third countries or accessed through complex commercial arrangements. Model-weight analysis may offer clues about the hardware used to train particular systems, but it cannot by itself prove where that hardware was located or whether its use breached the law.

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Sources

• techcrunch.com: Export-banned Nvidia chips are behind China's most powerful AI models — uh-oh, Jensen! | TechCrunch
• 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.