WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is weighing penalties that would block China`s DeepSeek from buying US technology and is debating barring Americans` access to its services, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The launch of China`s low-cost AI model, DeepSeek, has rattled the AI ecosystem. The US government has since taken steps to crack down on the Chinese start-up and its support from chip maker Nvidia.

Nvidia`s AI chips have been a key focus of USexport controls, as officials aim to prevent the most advanced chips from being sold to China in an effort to maintain a lead in the AI race.

The Trump administration this week moved to restrict Nvidia`s sale of AI chips to China.

The US House Select Committee on China said in a report that `it has sent a formal letter to Nvidia demanding answers about sales to China and Southeast Asia to examine whether and how its chips ended up powering DeepSeek`s AI models despite US export restrictions`.-Reuters