Washington Takes Aim at DeepSeek and Its American Chip Supplier Nvidia

Two months after DeepSeek, China's artificial intelligence (AI) star, rattled Washington and shook Wall Street, US officials are taking steps to crack down on the Chinese start-up and its support from America's leading chipmaker, Nvidia.

- Tripp Mickle, Ana Swanson, Meaghan Tobin and Cade Metz

SAN FRANCISCO —

The Trump administration this week moved to restrict Nvidia's sale of AI chips to China. It is also weighing penalties that would block DeepSeek from buying US technology and debating barring Americans' access to its services, said three people with knowledge of the actions who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Congressional leaders are also putting pressure on Nvidia.

On April 16, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, which focuses on national security threats from China, opened an investigation into Nvidia's sale of chips across Asia.

It is trying to assess whether the US chipmaker knowingly provided DeepSeek with critical technology to develop AI, potentially in violation of US rules.

It is the first congressional investigation into Nvidia's business. It comes as the Trump administration wrestles with how to carry out a Biden-era rule limiting the number of AI chips that companies can send to different countries.

The attacks on DeepSeek and Nvidia are an outgrowth of fear in Washington that China could leapfrog the United States in AI, which would have wide-ranging implications for national security and geopolitics.

If China took the lead, it could more quickly use AI systems to design next-generation weapons such as autonomous missiles and drones. It could also persuade other countries to use its technology for their network of AI systems and infrastructure, weakening US influence across the world.

Mr. Klon Kitchen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who focuses on national security and technology, said the US' strategy with AI had been to use its current lead in making AI chips and systems to persuade countries to ally with it.