Questions have been raised over the provenance of the semiconductors used to build DeepSeek's AI model, given U.S. export restrictions.

The U.S. government is probing whether the Hangzhou-based AI firm has built its disruptive R1 AI model on restricted Nvidia chips.

U.S. officials are investigating whether Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek skirted American export restrictions on advanced chip sales and bought advanced Nvidia (NVDA) semiconductors through third parties in Singapore,