The developer of the chatbox that shocked U.S. incumbents had access to Nvidia chips that its parent company providentially acquired just before a 2022 U.S. export ban.

The emergence of DeepSeek came shortly after President Trump unveiled his "Stargate" project to invest $500bn in advancing AI.

Top White House advisers this week expressed alarm that China's DeepSeek may have benefited from a method that allegedly piggybacks off the advances of US rivals called "distillation."

The Commerce Department has launched a probe into whether Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek obtained restricted Nvidia chips through Singapore, reports say.

Two members of U.S. Congress are calling on President Donald Trump's administration to consider restricting the export of artificial intelligence chips made by Nvidia , alleging Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has relied on them.

U.S. officials are investigating whether Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek skirted American export restrictions on advanced chip sales and bought advanced Nvidia (NVDA) semiconductors through third parties in Singapore,