Chinese frontier AI models carry the fingerprint of export-controlled GPUs

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Top Chinese Frontier AI Models Carry the Fingerprint of Export-Controlled NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs Will DePueNovember 12, 2026 Print / save PDFCite this report Executive Summary Our forensic analysis of publicly released AI models finds evidence that DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax and Ant Group have gained access to NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPUs, despite restrictions on exporting these chips to China, and are using that hardware to create their AI models. Six models released by these companies since April 2026 contain numerical patterns matching Blackwell hardware, whereas earlier models from the same companies match NVIDIA’s older Hopper generation. The findings suggest that several leading Chinese AI developers have begun using Blackwell to train their newest models. U.S. officials and press reports had already alleged that DeepSeek and Moonshot AI were using Blackwell chips, without publishing technical evidence. The evidence comes entirely from the models’ own published weights, rather than from leaks or insider accounts. We recover traces of the models’ initial values, and then search for the hardware configurations and initial configurations that reproduce them;

for DeepSeek-V4-Flash and Kimi K3, we also confirmed the match on physical Blackwell chips. The fingerprint identifies how the weights were created and supports, without proving, the inference that Blackwell also performed the training. Specially configured AMD hardware, which is also restricted from export to China, is the only alternative we have identified;

we have excluded it for DeepSeek-V4-Flash, and consider it very unlikely for the other five models. Notably, our findings provide technical evidence of access to advanced computing hardware, but do not establish where the chips were located, how access was obtained, or whether export controls were violated. Table 1. Hardware fingerprints in successive models from DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax and Ant Group Link ↗ LabModelReleasedChip the model was started on DeepSeekDeepSeek-V3Dec 2024NVIDIA Hopper (lab disclosed H800) DeepSeek-V4-FlashApr 2026• NVIDIA Blackwell B200/B300 DeepSeek-V4-ProApr 2026• NVIDIA Blackwell GB200/GB300 Moonshot AIKimi K2Jul 2025NVIDIA Hopper (lab disclosed H800) Kimi K2.5Jan 2026NVIDIA Hopper (lab disclosed H800) Kimi K3Jul 2026• NVIDIA Blackwell GB200/GB300 Kimi K3.1-ProNov 2026• NVIDIA Blackwell GB200/GB300 MiniMaxMiniMax-M2.7Apr 2026NVIDIA Hopper MiniMax-M3Jun 2026• NVIDIA Blackwell B200/B300 Ant GroupLing-3.0-flashAug 2026NVIDIA Hopper Ling-3.1-flashOct 2026• NVIDIA Blackwell GB200/GB300 • Requires a U.S. license for export to China;

none have been reported. A Hopper fingerprint cannot distinguish an H800 from an H100 SXM or H200;

the H800 identifications above are lab disclosures, not findings of this method. Full list of models in Appendix 2 ↓ Main Findings Six models from four Chinese labs read as Blackwell-trained. DeepSeek-V4-Flash and MiniMax-M3 match NVIDIA’s Blackwell-class B200 or B300 chips, which have 148 processor cores (called streaming multiprocessors, or SMs). DeepSeek-V4-Pro, Kimi K3, Kimi K3.1-Pro and Ling-3.1-flash match the GB200 or GB300 chips, also Blackwell-class, which have 152 processor cores. Kimi K3.1-Pro starts from the same seed as K3, and may be a checkpoint of K3 with further post-training. Chinese labs started training on Blackwell relatively recently. DeepSeek’s models read as Hopper-trained through DeepSeek-V3 (released in December 2024), and as Blackwell from DeepSeek V4 (released in April 2026). Moonshot’s models read as Hopper through Kimi K2.5 (January 2026) and as Blackwell from K3 (July 2026). One Moonshot model sits in between: Kimi K2.7-Code, posted six weeks before K3, is built on the Hopper-era weights but contains a small part that matches the B200 or B300. MiniMax’s models read as Hopper through M2.7 (April 2026) and as Blackwell from M3 (June 2026). Ant Group’s Ling-3.0-flash (August 2026) reads as Hopper, while its Ling-3.1-flash (October 202