Researcher Finds Blackwell Fingerprints in China's Top Open AI Models

China's most closely watched open-weight AI models were trained on Nvidia Blackwell chips that US export rules ban from shipping to China, according to a new analysis by the nonprofit research group Unemployment Labs. The finding lands days after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang left the company, and it sharpens the export-control problem facing the largest AI chip designer.

What did the analysis find?

Will DePue, a former OpenAI researcher who leads Unemployment Labs, examined the weights of large language models released openly by DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax and Ant Group. Model weights retain traces of the hardware used in training. DePue found compelling evidence that Moonshot's Kimi K3 releases and DeepSeek's V4 models carry fingerprints of Blackwell GPUs, according to the research.

The claim aligns with earlier statements from Washington. White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios said earlier this year that Moonshot had used export-banned Nvidia chips, citing US intelligence sources.

Epoch AI, a nonprofit research organization, estimates about two million advanced chips entered China in 2024 and 2025 through schemes designed to hide their final destination.

The evidence does not prove US law was broken. The chips could have sat in offshore data centers, a route Chinese firms have used widely and one that has driven an industrial boom in Malaysia. Epoch's data puts Nvidia AI accelerator imports to Malaysia at 275,000 units across 2024 and 2025.

Why did Jensen Huang leave Nvidia?

Huang departed this week after admitting an affair with Alice Huang, an executive of Megaspeed, a company implicated in smuggling Nvidia chips into China. Alice Huang has also been alleged to be an agent of China's intelligence service. Beyond the personal conduct, Nvidia's potential corporate liability for export control violations likely factored into the separation decision.

Megaspeed has sat at the center of the chip trade for years through its subsidiary Speedmatrix. Both the US and Singaporean governments have investigated it. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that a company linked to Alice Huang was involved in smuggling banned Nvidia chips to a data center in Shanghai.

Nvidia and Huang have both vouched for Megaspeed's data centers. The company said Nvidia officials had visited the sites to confirm they were legitimate. US companies currently face limited obligations to track what customers do with controlled goods, but Huang's entanglements with Alice Huang become a much larger problem for Nvidia if investigators confirm smuggling occurred and that he knew of it.

What about the Malaysia loophole?

Export controls ban Blackwell shipments to China and Chinese-owned firms. The Trump administration permits exports of the less powerful H200, provided shipments take a circuitous route that lets the US claim a 25 percent tariff.

Sam Bresnick, a researcher at the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology, told TechCrunch this summer: "If we care about the U.S. tech edge, it doesn't make any sense to me that you would not allow Chinese companies to access chips in mainland China or Hong Kong and Macau, but then say, actually, if you just go over to Malaysia, you can do whatever you want."

China hawks have long demanded controls on who uses chips, not merely who owns them or where they sit.

How exposed is Nvidia's China revenue?

In May, short-selling firm Culper published a report arguing Nvidia had a "China problem": a significant share of revenue was driven by Chinese demand through remote data centers or outright smuggling. The report detailed Megaspeed's relationship with Nvidia and alleged that Alice Huang's companies are backed by Chinese firms barred from accessing US chips.

Culper's bear case was not a US crackdown. It focused on Beijing's response — a renewed commitment to its domestic chip industry. If that succeeds, billions of dollars in Chinese demand for Nvidia silicon could disappear.

Some 600,000 H200 chips are reportedly stockpiled in Hong Kong awaiting import into China, with no consensus on why clearance has stalled. Graham Webster, a Stanford research scholar on US-China technology policy, said he does not accept that holding the chips back would spur domestic production, given the scale of demand. Other theories include preparation for a trade deal involving large US imports, or concerns about surveillance technology in the chips.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who oversees export licensing agencies, could reportedly lose his job after reports that his investigators failed to flag suspicious chip buyers and grew too close to Nvidia officials. How Washington treats Nvidia and Megaspeed, and whether Beijing's domestic chip push succeeds, will decide whether Nvidia's China revenue survives the current squeeze.