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Trump and Nvidia CEO Discuss DeepSeek and AI Chip Export Restrictions

U.S. President Donald Trump and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang held a meeting at the White House on Friday to discuss the rise of China’s DeepSeek and potential restrictions on AI chip exports. The discussions centered around the growing competition from DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company that recently launched an advanced model, which is seen as a challenge to U.S. technological dominance. DeepSeek’s performance has raised alarms, prompting concerns about China’s progress in AI, with the company’s app becoming a global sensation within days of its launch. The meeting also covered tightening restrictions on Nvidia’s AI chip exports, particularly its H20 model, to China. U.S. lawmakers have called for further scrutiny of AI chip sales to China, and the Commerce Department is investigating whether DeepSeek has used restricted U.S. chips.

Samsung Faces AI Chip Sales Slowdown Amid U.S. Export Restrictions

Samsung Electronics warned on Friday that its AI chip sales will be sluggish in the first quarter due to U.S. export restrictions on China, as well as a shift in demand toward more advanced chips. The company is working to launch an improved version of its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips in March to address these challenges.

Samsung’s struggles are compounded by its reliance on Chinese customers, who accounted for about 20% of its HBM sales. The U.S. government’s expanded restrictions on semiconductor exports have put additional pressure on the company, unlike its competitor SK Hynix, which remains Nvidia’s primary supplier of HBM chips for AI applications.

Kim Jae-june, Samsung’s executive vice president of memory, acknowledged that “temporary restrictions” would impact HBM sales but expressed optimism about future improvements. Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently indicated that Samsung needs to “engineer a new design” to meet Nvidia’s standards.

Despite these efforts, Samsung reported a 29% decline in operating profit for Q4, totaling 6.5 trillion won ($4.48 billion). The company also faces headwinds in the mobile market, where competition from Apple and Chinese rivals has eroded profits. Samsung’s decision to use Qualcomm processors for its entire Galaxy S25 lineup, instead of its in-house Exynos chips, represents another setback for its semiconductor division.

While AI-driven demand for memory chips is expected to recover from Q2 onward, Samsung’s long-term performance will depend on its ability to mass-produce advanced 12-layer HBM3E chips for Nvidia.

 

Taiwan Bans Government Use of DeepSeek AI Over Security Concerns

Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs announced on Friday that government departments are prohibited from using DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) service, citing national security risks. The ministry warned that DeepSeek’s operations involve cross-border data transmission, raising concerns about potential information leaks.

Given Beijing’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan and ongoing political and military tensions, Taiwanese authorities remain cautious about Chinese technology. The digital ministry emphasized that it will continue monitoring technological developments and adjust cybersecurity policies as necessary to safeguard national security.

This development follows similar concerns raised internationally. South Korea’s information privacy watchdog has stated plans to question DeepSeek regarding its data handling practices. Meanwhile, regulatory authorities in France, Italy, and Ireland are also examining the company’s use of personal information.

DeepSeek’s rapid rise has sparked global scrutiny. By Monday, its free AI assistant had surpassed OpenAI’s ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store. The surge in DeepSeek’s popularity coincided with a sharp decline in U.S. tech stocks, leading to a record $593 billion market value loss for Nvidia in a single day.