Nvidia’s AI chips keep making their way to China despite US curbs. Officials are asking why the company missed red flags.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union’s smallest republic was an electronics and tech center for the Communist superpower. Now Armenia is on track to become one of the world’s top hubs for American AI infrastructure.

Malaysia is leaning toward relying on Huawei Technologies Co.’s artificial intelligence chips to power its sovereign AI efforts, in what would be a major victory for Chinese AI technology in the face of strong opposition from President Donald Trump’s administration.

DeepSeek plans to deploy at least 160,000 of Huawei Technologies Co.’s top accelerators at a massive data center it’s building in Inner Mongolia, which could create one of the largest known clusters of Huawei AI chips and advance China’s efforts to replace Nvidia Corp.

The US government is investigating Singapore-based Apex Logistics for its suspected role in smuggling Nvidia Corp. AI chips to China, people familiar with the matter said, in what may result in the first action against a transportation company for allegedly participating in the illegal semiconductor trade.

Huawei Technologies Co. has bid to build AI data centers for the Egyptian government, demonstrating its global chip ambitions and drawing alarm in Washington — where officials are working to assemble a counteroffer.

Taiwanese prosecutors indicted a senior Nvidia Corp. manager as part of a group that allegedly smuggled advanced AI chips into China, according to people familiar with the matter, advancing the island democracy’s first known crackdown on the black-market trade of such accelerators.

A key US agency is reviewing how Chinese AI firms acquire and access Nvidia Corp. chips overseas, following a spate of technological breakthroughs that highlighted their ability to use the cutting-edge hardware despite Washington’s restrictions on shipments to the Asian country.

Chinese AI champion Moonshot has a computing power agreement with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. for the use of around 20,000 Nvidia Corp. chips, underscoring China’s continued reliance on Western semiconductors to fuel its AI development, according to people with knowledge of the companies’ operations.

China’s DeepSeek is planning a massive artificial-intelligence data center in Inner Mongolia, according to people familiar with the matter, an ambitious move in computing infrastructure from the startup that’s shown it can compete with the leading AI models of Silicon Valley.

Taiwanese prosecutors detained an Nvidia Corp. employee as part of a probe into the alleged smuggling of AI chips into China, thrusting the US company into a high-profile case concerning the black market for its products.

US lawmakers are pressing President Donald Trump’s team to close a loophole they say the administration created in China tech restrictions, but which a key agency denies exists — an example of the persistent confusion surrounding Washington’s efforts to limit China’s AI prowess.

Dutch chip-equipment giant ASML Holding NV is contending with its biggest challenge yet under the Trump administration: In a series of recent meetings, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick outlined concerns to ASML’s senior leaders that one of its top-of-the-line machines may have made its way into China, in violation of US-led export restrictions.

Microsoft Corp. has built a big business selling AI models to Chinese companies despite the growing rivalry between the US and China over artificial intelligence.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned Anthropic PBC Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei in a letter Friday that the company would need government permission before exporting its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 artificial intelligence models to any destination worldwide, or to any foreign national regardless of location.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned Anthropic PBC Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei in a letter Friday that the company would need government permission before exporting its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 artificial intelligence models to any destination worldwide, or to any foreign national regardless of location.

Taiwan authorities are considering much stricter export controls on AI chip sales to China to further align with US measures, according to people familiar with the matter, an effort to address semiconductor smuggling that risks drawing a rebuke from Beijing.

Trump officials have spent the past week embroiled in a remarkable argument — over what, exactly, their China tech policy has been for the past year.

Taiwan prosecutors suspect that three individuals successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp. AI chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said.

Taiwanese officials are seeking to detain three individuals for forging documents in order to export Nvidia Corp. AI chips to China, the island democracy’s first such crackdown on semiconductor smuggling.