A senior U.S. official has accused Chinese AI firm DeepSeek of aiding Beijing’s military and intelligence operations and using shell companies in Southeast Asia to obtain banned American semiconductors illegally. The serious allegations represent a significant escalation in the U.S.-China tech war.
In an interview with Reuters, the State Department official claimed DeepSeek willingly provides support to China’s military and shares user data with Beijing’s surveillance apparatus.
The official also pointed to over 150 references to DeepSeek in procurement records for China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and alleged the company has provided services to PLA research institutions.
Furthermore, the U.S. government believes that DeepSeek has employed elaborate workarounds to obtain large volumes of Nvidia’s powerful H100 chips, which are restricted under U.S. export controls. “DeepSeek sought to use shell companies in Southeast Asia to evade export controls,” the official stated, adding that the company is also trying to access data centers in the region to use U.S. chips remotely.
The U.S. has not yet announced sanctions against DeepSeek, but the official’s comments put the company squarely in Washington’s crosshairs. Nvidia, in response, stated it complies with all export controls and is “effectively out of the China data center market.”
The explosive claims come as authorities in other countries, including Malaysia, have begun investigating the potential misuse of U.S. technology by Chinese firms on their soil.
