Nvidia’s Blackwell chips were smuggled into China through countries that permitted their sale, The Information reported, citing unnamed sources. More specifically, DeepSeek tapped chips that were installed in data centers in unspecified countries, then dismantled and shipped to China after clearing inspection by companies developing server equipment, The Information said. The US bans the sale of these advanced semiconductors to China, which has led AI developers there to access the hardware through data centers located outside of the mainland or subterfuge.