Today, Bloomberg reported that the US government under Trump administration is probing whether Chinese AI company DeepSeek circumvented export restrictions to acquire advanced NVIDIA GPUs through Singaporean intermediaries. The investigation follows concerns that DeepSeek's AI model, R1—reportedly rivaling leading systems from OpenAI and Google—may have been trained using restricted hardware that is blocked from exporting to China. Singapore's role in NVIDIA's global sales has surged, with the nation accounting for 22% of the chipmaker's revenue in Q3 FY2025, up from 9% in Q3 FY2023. This spike coincides with tightened US export controls on AI chips to China, prompting speculation that Singapore serves as a pipe for Chinese firms to access high-end GPUs like the H100, which cannot be sold directly to China.

DeepSeek has not disclosed hardware details for R1 but revealed its earlier V3 model was trained using 2,048 H800 GPUs (2.8 million GPU hours), achieving efficiency surpassing Meta's Llama 3, which required 30.8 million GPU hours. Analysts suggest R1's performance implies even more powerful infrastructure, potentially involving restricted chips. US authorities, including the White House and FBI, are examining whether third parties in Singapore facilitated the transfer of controlled GPUs to DeepSeek. A well-known semiconductor analyst firm, SemiAnalysis, believes that DeepSeek acquired around 50,000 NVIDIA Hopper GPUs, which includes a mix of H100, H800, and H20. NVIDIA clarified that its reported Singapore revenue reflects "bill to" customer locations, not final destinations, stating most products are routed to the US or Western markets.The company emphasized compliance with export laws but acknowledged Singapore's significant growth in trade. Meanwhile, Howard Lutnick, a Trump nominee to lead the Commerce Department, accused DeepSeek of evading US restrictions during his confirmation hearing, pledging rigorous enforcement of chip sales limits if appointed. Authorities have yet to conclude investigations, leaving questions about Singapore's role unresolved.