WASHINGTON, Jan 29, 2026, 10:25 (EST)
- Chair of House China committee claims Nvidia’s backing enabled DeepSeek to refine AI technology later utilized by China’s military
- Nvidia pushed back against claims that Beijing’s military relies on U.S. technology; the Commerce Department and DeepSeek declined to comment
- CEO Jensen Huang confirmed that China is still working on finalizing an import license for Nvidia’s H200 chip
John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, accused Nvidia of assisting Chinese AI firm DeepSeek in refining its models, which he claims were later deployed by China’s military. He called for stricter controls on sensitive chip exports in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. 1
The letter arrives as President Donald Trump’s administration greenlights exports of Nvidia’s H200 chip to China, imposing restrictions designed to prevent military-connected entities from gaining access. This move is already sparking backlash from China hawks.
DeepSeek has become a hot topic in Washington after its models shook up markets last year by rivaling top U.S. technology while demanding less computing power. This challenges the whole premise behind export controls — U.S. restrictions on tech exports for national security — especially if China can achieve more with fewer chips.
In his letter, Moolenaar noted that Nvidia’s team assisted DeepSeek with an “optimized co-design of algorithms, frameworks, and hardware,” boosting training efficiency. He referenced internal data showing DeepSeek-V3 trained with 2.788 million H800 GPU hours — the runtime for graphics processing units used in AI training — which is less than what U.S. developers usually require for high-end models.
He noted the work happened in 2024, prior to any public proof that China’s military was using DeepSeek’s technology. Nvidia’s H800, created specifically for the Chinese market, was sold there before U.S. export controls kicked in during 2023.
Nvidia argued that it’s unrealistic for China’s military to depend on American technology, pointing out that China has sufficient domestic chips for its military needs. China’s embassy in Washington pushed back, saying Beijing rejects using national security as a pretext to politicize trade. The Commerce Department and DeepSeek didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, speaking in Taipei after visiting China, said the “actual license for H200 is being finalised” and expressed hope for a positive outcome from Beijing. The H200, which outperforms the H800, has become a key issue in U.S.-China technology relations. 2
China has conditionally approved ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to purchase over 400,000 H200 chips, according to four sources speaking to Reuters. However, some of the restrictions are strict enough that the companies have paused turning these approvals into actual orders. The insiders also revealed that Chinese officials have floated the idea of mandating imports be paired with domestic chips, as Huawei, a local supplier, promotes alternatives that still lag behind the H200. 3
Olivia Shen, director of strategic technologies at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, pointed out that export controls look straightforward on paper but quickly get complicated once the hardware leaves the country: “it’s incredibly difficult to control how the chips will actually be used downstream.” She emphasized timing is crucial since the first H200 shipments have already been approved for export. Nvidia is also working on location-verification tools to curb smuggling risks. 4
The battle now shifts from engineering to enforcement. Lawmakers might push Commerce to strengthen licenses or expand what counts as military end use. On the other side, China could stall approvals to shield its own chip makers. Nvidia stands to get caught in the crossfire between these two powers.
Moolenaar warned that sales to nominally civilian customers in China would still “inevitably” violate military end-use rules, urging stricter licensing and more rigorous follow-up inspections.
