Researcher says model weights show six Chinese AI models were trained on export-banned Nvidia chips
Former OpenAI researcher Will DePue says he found technical evidence that DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax and Ant Group used Nvidia Blackwell GPUs despite US export controls, by reading chip signatures from published model weights. He estimates the hardware behind the training runs cost more than half a billion dollars.
If confirmed, the method gives regulators a new way to check whether chip export controls are working, adding pressure on Nvidia during its leadership crisis.
aii.news picks and summarizes stories from trusted news sources with the help of AI. Every story links to the original reporting. How we work.
Keep reading
-
Firm tied to ex-Nvidia CEO's former partner reportedly arranged $12 billion in chip orders for China
According to the WSJ, Megaspeed, owned by Alice Huang, arranged nearly $12 billion in Nvidia chip orders for Chinese companies in 2024 and 2025. Short seller Culper Research estimates Nvidia's real China revenue share is above 20 percent, far higher than the reported 7 percent.
Why it mattersIf confirmed, it raises serious questions about how well US chip export controls work and how much Nvidia depends on China.
-
Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang agrees to testify before Congress
Huang agreed to testify after senior lawmakers threatened to subpoena him over reports of an alleged affair with a woman suspected of spying for China. A separate Democratic investigation into Nvidia's China sales and dealings with Trump has also been launched.
Why it mattersThe hearings could shape US rules on AI chip exports and national security oversight of the chip industry.
-
Nvidia privately told a lawmaker chip tracking against smuggling was possible
Representative Bill Foster said Nvidia representatives told him the anti-smuggling measures in the proposed Chip Security Act were technically possible. This came while an industry group publicly called those measures potentially infeasible.
Why it mattersThe claim could strengthen the push in Congress to require location tracking on AI chips to stop exports reaching China.
-
Meituan releases open-weight 1.6-trillion-parameter agent model trained on Chinese chips
Meituan has published the weights of LongCat-2.5, a 1.6-trillion-parameter model built for AI agents and trained entirely on Chinese hardware. It scores 88.4 on Terminal Bench, just behind Claude Opus 5, and its sample deployment runs on 194 Huawei Ascend chips.
Why it mattersDevelopers get a near-frontier open agent model, and the release shows China can build top models without Nvidia GPUs despite export controls.
-
FBI says North Korean hackers stole over $400 million in crypto using deepfake video calls
The FBI says hackers tied to North Korea stole more than $400 million in cryptocurrency over 18 months in a social engineering scheme codenamed FaceStealer that used deepfake video calls. The finding was part of a coordinated set of US government actions.
Why it mattersA familiar face on a video call is no longer proof of identity, so crypto firms and finance teams need extra checks before moving money.
