DeepSeek is Using Banned Nvidia Chips in Race to Build Next Model Via TheInformation DeepSeek is secretly training its next-gen model on *thousands of banned Nvidia Blackwell chips* that were smuggled into China via “phantom” overseas data centers, where servers are first installed and inspected, then dismantled, falsely declared at customs, and rebuilt inside Chinese facilities. The scheme exposes how porous U.S. export controls still are-even as Washington labels DeepSeek a national security threat, brings smuggling charges against intermediaries, and Nvidia races to deploy location-tracking features that could cripple the use of these underground chips. And perhaps that is also the reason why China is not showing much interest in the H200.