The Trump administration is considering new restrictions on the Chinese AI lab DeepSeek that would limit it from buying Nvidia’s AI chips, and potentially bar Americans from accessing its AI services, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The restrictions are part of the Trump administration’s effort to compete with China on AI. Months after DeepSeek jolted both Silicon Valley and Wall Street, U.S. officials seem to be weighing several options to limit China’s access to American technologies and consumers.
On Tuesday, the White House moved to restrict more of Nvidia’s AI chip sales to China, strengthening rules created by the Biden administration.
DeepSeek’s popularity among U.S. AI developers has soared in recent months, and the startup’s competitive pricing has forced Silicon Valley to offer frontier AI models at lower costs.
There are lingering questions, however, around whether DeepSeek engaged in IP theft to create some of its more competitive models. OpenAI has alleged that the Chinese lab distilled its models, violating OpenAI’s terms of use.