Nvidia’s Support to DeepSeek Raises U.S. Concerns Over AI Technology’s Potential Military Use in China

Nvidia is facing fresh scrutiny in Washington after a senior U.S. lawmaker alleged that the company’s technical assistance helped Chinese startup DeepSeek refine artificial intelligence models that were later linked to China’s military applications.

According to a letter reviewed by a famous publication, Representative John Moolenaar, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on China, claimed that Nvidia engineers played a role in improving the efficiency of DeepSeek’s AI training systems. The development has intensified concerns that American technology could inadvertently accelerate China’s defense capabilities despite strict export restrictions.

DeepSeek attracted global attention last year after unveiling AI models that reportedly rival leading U.S. systems while requiring far less computing power. The breakthrough surprised industry experts and policymakers alike, especially as the United States has been tightening controls on the sale of advanced semiconductor hardware to China in an effort to maintain its technological edge.

In his letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Moolenaar said internal Nvidia records revealed close collaboration with DeepSeek’s technical team.

"According to NVIDIA records, NVIDIA technology development personnel helped DeepSeek achieve major training efficiency gains through an 'optimized co-design of algorithms, frameworks, and hardware,' with internal reporting boasting that 'DeepSeek-V3 requires only 2.788M H800 GPU hours for its full training' - less than what U.S. developers typically require for frontier-scale models," Moolenaar wrote in the letter.

GPU hours measure the time required for AI chips to train complex models. Frontier-scale systems refer to top-tier models built by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

The documents cited by the committee relate to Nvidia’s activities during 2024. At that time, there were no clear public signals that DeepSeek’s work might support China’s military. Moolenaar acknowledged this context in the letter, writing:

"Nvidia treated DeepSeek accordingly - as a legitimate commercial partner deserving of standard technical support," Moolenaar wrote.

DeepSeek reportedly used Nvidia’s H800 chips, processors designed specifically for the Chinese market before they were later added to the U.S. export control list in 2023. U.S. officials have previously indicated that the company may now be contributing to China’s defense-related research.

Responding to the allegations, Nvidia emphasized that China has sufficient domestic chipmaking capacity and downplayed the likelihood of military dependence on American technology.

"China has more than enough domestic chips for all of its military applications, with millions to spare. Just like it would be nonsensical for the American military to use Chinese technology, it makes no sense for the Chinese military to depend on American technology," Nvidia said in a statement.

The issue has resurfaced as the Trump administration recently allowed limited sales of Nvidia’s more powerful H200 chips to China under strict conditions barring sales to entities connected to the military. The decision has drawn criticism from lawmakers who argue that enforcing such restrictions remains challenging.

"If even the world's most valuable company cannot rule out the military use of its products when sold to entities, rigorous licensing restrictions and enforcement are essential to prevent such assurances from becoming superficial formalities," Moolenaar wrote.

"Chips sales to ostensibly non military end users in China will inevitably result in a violation of the military end use restrictions," he added.

The Commerce Department, the Chinese embassy in Washington, and DeepSeek did not immediately comment, leaving the debate over AI technology transfers and national security far from settled.