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

Forensic analysis of AI model weights reveals that Chinese companies DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and Ant Group have obtained access to NVIDIA's export-controlled Blackwell GPUs to train their latest models, despite U.S. restrictions on selling these chips to China. Six models released since April 2026 contain numerical patterns matching Blackwell hardware, a significant shift from their earlier models which used the older Hopper generation. While the analysis provides technical evidence of Blackwell access, it does not establish the chips' location or confirm whether export controls were actually violated.