A group of United States lawmakers has warned that advanced Nvidia chips exported to China are allegedly being used to boost China’s military capabilities.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the China Select Committee claimed that Nvidia’s chips are “powering the Chinese military” and called it a security failure on the part of the US government.
The 23-member bipartisan committee wrote to the Department of Commerce and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick that “there is no such thing as a ‘purely civilian’ artificial intelligence (AI) society in China.”
“Nvidia products were used by DeepSeek AI and ultimately supported the AI model used by the PLA (People’s Liberation Army). Military-civilian fusion is real and we must protect our country’s technological advantage,” he added.
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The letter added that “while Nvidia claims its relationship with DeepSeek is to ‘promote the flywheel of the AI ecosystem and improve Nvidia’s products,’ documents presented to the committee reveal that Nvidia provided extensive technical support to enable DeepSeek.”
It claimed that “Nvidia’s extensive technical support that made DeepSeek possible” was integrated into PLA systems and demonstrated a cybersecurity risk.
“These findings show why consistent enforcement of the Department’s H200 export rule, which requires certification that the chips will not serve military purposes, is critical — even though such enforcement effectively prevents H200 exports to the PRC,” he added.
The letter also alleged that DeepSeek was funneling Americans’ data to the Chinese government “through infrastructure linked to a Chinese military company designated by the United States.” It used an October 2025 Jamestown Foundation report that cited PLA procurement documents to conclude that the Chinese military was using homegrown artificial intelligence systems, including DeepSeek, and planned to integrate them into its operations.
He further called for measures to be taken “to prevent disallowed end users from gaining the type of access that PLAs have gained from DeepSeek”.
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How Nvidia responded; read the committee’s full letter
In response to questions, a spokesman for California-based Nvidia told AFP: “China has more than enough domestic chips for all its military applications, with millions in savings” and that “it doesn’t make sense for the Chinese military to depend on American technology. Critics of the administration are inadvertently advancing the interests of foreign competitors,” he added.
You can read the full letter in the post below:
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A Financial Times report in mid-January cited sources as saying that suppliers of parts for Nvidia’s much-hyped H200 chip had suspended production after customs officials in China blocked shipments of the AI processor from entering the country. One source said Nvidia was “taken aback”.
A week later, several reports said that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s annual visit to Shanghai will have a dual purpose this year, including detours to Beijing, Shenzhen and Taiwan.
Notably, US President Donald Trump approved the sale of Nvidia’s H200 AI processors to China in December 2025 after months of lobbying by Jensen Huang and AI stakeholders.
However, manufacturers of essential component parts now fear that it is the Chinese authorities who will block the shipments and want to write them off later, the FT report added, citing two sources.
Huang was enthusiastic about the Chinese market and lobbied hard with Washington and Beijing to get his H200 chips approved for sale. Following US approval in December, the company pumped up production for an estimated 1 million orders from Chinese clients, a source told the FT.
The deliveries were scheduled for March, but now the fate remains on hold due to uncertainty from customs officials, the source added.
Chinese customs authorities have reportedly told a logistics company in Shenzhen that Nvidia’s H200 chips are not allowed into the country. There was no indication of the reason for the blocking or whether it was a temporary or permanent ban. The FT’s sources said domestic technology companies had been warned against buying Nvidia chips and told to prefer domestic options.
Key things
- The US China Committee claimed that Nvidia’s chips were “powering the Chinese military”.
- The 23-member bipartisan committee outlined its concerns in a letter to the Commerce Department and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
- The letter claims that Nvidia products were used by DeepSeek AI and ultimately supported the AI model used by the PLA.
