According to an exclusive report by Reuters, a senior Trump administration official said Chinese AI startup DeepSeek trained its latest artificial intelligence model using Nvidia’s most advanced Blackwell chips, a move that could violate U.S. export controls banning the technology’s shipment to China. The model is expected to be released as soon as next week, and U.S. officials believe the company may try to remove technical markers that would reveal the chips’ American origin.

The official said the Blackwell processors are likely housed at a DeepSeek data center in Inner Mongolia. The administration insists it is not authorizing Blackwell exports to China. Nvidia declined to comment, and neither DeepSeek nor the Commerce Department responded to requests for comment.