Krishnamoorthi, Moolenaar Release Report on Chinese AI Firm DeepSeek — Demand Answers from Nvidia Over Chip Use

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the CCP released a new investigative report exposing DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence platform, as a serious national security threat to the United States.

Titled, “DeepSeek Unmasked: Exposing the CCP’s Latest Tool For Spying, Stealing, and Subverting U.S. Export Control Restrictions,”  the report reveals that DeepSeek covertly funnels American user data to the Chinese Communist Party, manipulates information to align with CCP propaganda, and was likely trained using material unlawfully obtained from U.S. AI models. The report also highlights reporting that DeepSeek operates on tens of thousands of Nvidia chips—some of which are subject to U.S. export controls.

1.  Foreign Control: DeepSeek is owned and operated by a CCP-linked company led by Lian Wenfang and ideologically aligned with Xi Jinping Thought.

2.  U.S. User Data at Risk: The platform funnels American user data through unsecured networks to China, serving as a high-value open-source intelligence asset for the CCP.

3.  Surveillance Network Ties: DeepSeek’s infrastructure is linked to Chinese state-affiliated firms including ByteDance, Baidu, Tencent, and China Mobile—entities known for censorship, surveillance, and data harvesting.

4.  Illicit Chip Procurement: DeepSeek was reportedly developed using over 60,000 Nvidia chips, which may have been obtained in circumvention of U.S. export controls. 

In response to the report’s findings, the Select Committee has sent a formal letter to Nvidia demanding answers about sales to China and Southeast Asia to examine whether and how its chips ended up powering DeepSeek’s AI models—despite U.S. export restrictions.

The Committee will continue investigating how American innovation is being exploited by the Chinese Communist Party.

Read the full report: DeepSeek Unmasked: Exposing the CCP’s Latest Tool For Spying, Stealing, and Subverting U.S. Export Control Restrictions

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