US looking into whether DeepSeek bought Nvidia chips from Singapore companies: report

THE United States is looking into whether Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek got around US export restrictions by buying Nvidia chips through companies in Singapore, Bloomberg reported on Friday (Jan 31), citing sources.

DeepSeek rose to prominence early this week when it soared to the top of Apple Store’s download charts, and caused a meltdown in US tech stocks.

Its model is said to be able to perform on a par with, or outperform, Open AI and other US AI models.

In 2023, the US put in place a raft of restrictions barring exports of advanced AI chips to China; that round of curbs, aimed at more than 40 countries thought to be able to serve as intermediaries to get chips into China, did not include Singapore.

But the latest restrictions, which were imposed in the final days of former US president Joe Biden’s administration, apply to most countries, including the Republic. 

For example, large shipments to Singapore now require a licence; shipments of less than around 1,700 processors require only a notification, Bloomberg reported.

Howard Lutnick, US President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Commerce Department, suggested on Wednesday that DeepSeek had evaded US export controls.

He told senators at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday: “Nvidia’s chips, which they bought tonnes of, and they found their ways around it, drive their DeepSeek model.”

But Nvidia issued a statement this week to say that it believed DeepSeek did not violate US restrictions: “We insist that our partners comply with all applicable laws, and if we receive any information to the contrary, act accordingly.”

Impact on Singapore

Based on US regulatory filings, Singapore accounts for about 20 per cent of Nvidia’s revenue.

However, the filings suggest that many shipments were not delivered to Singapore, or were insignificant.

A spokesperson from Nvidia said that the revenue associated with Singapore does not suggest that shipments were diverted to China, the Bloomberg report said.

“Our public filings report the ‘bill to’ (and) not ‘ship to’ locations of our customers,” the spokesperson added. “Many of our customers have business entities in Singapore and use those entities for products destined for the US and the West.”

The top Democrat and Republican on a China-focused panel in the US House of Representatives this week commented on Singapore’s shipments in a letter to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.

“Countries like Singapore should be subject to strict licensing requirements absent a willingness to crack down” on shipments to China, Representatives John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote.

The Chinese company recently released the DeepSeek-R1 model that can mimic the way humans reason, posing a threat to the market dominated by OpenAI and other US rivals.

Its rise led to an initial US$1 trillion wipe-out in the US tech market, as fears were sparked over the effectiveness of US attempts to cut China off from advanced technology.

Some shares have, however, since recovered.

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment, added the report.

The Business Times has reached out to Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry for a response.