US Committee: China Uses Advanced American Chips to Monitor Uyghurs

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with President and CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang in Beijing, April 17, 2025.

The U.S. House Select Committee on China has accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of using advanced chips—some potentially sourced from the United States—to surveil Uyghur Muslims through AI-powered systems and biometric monitoring.

In a statement released on April 18, the committee claimed that facial recognition technology, camera surveillance, and biometric tracking are being used to monitor individuals in the Xinjiang region, where simple acts such as “growing a beard” or “using WhatsApp” are reportedly flagged as suspicious.

A detailed report published on April 16 further alleged that U.S. chipmaker Nvidia played a role in enabling this system. According to the committee, over 60,000 Nvidia chips were used to develop China's AI chatbot, DeepSeek. CEO Jensen Huang was accused of designing custom chips to bypass U.S. export restrictions implemented in October 2023.

Committee Chairman John Moolenaar stated:

“This tool was used to spy on Americans, steal our technology, and subvert U.S. law.”

The report highlighted four key findings:

  • Censorship: Over 85% of DeepSeek’s outputs are reportedly filtered to align with CCP narratives, suppressing topics such as democracy, human rights, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

  • CCP Ties: The platform is operated by a company ideologically aligned with Xi Jinping Thought.

  • Privacy Violations: DeepSeek allegedly shares infrastructure with firms like ByteDance, Tencent, Baidu, and China Mobile—all of which have track records of state-aligned data collection.

  • Nvidia's Role: The chips, designed post-October 2023, were said to exploit regulatory loopholes, helping power China's AI advancements.

Trump Administration Weighs DeepSeek Ban

According to a recent report by The New York Times, the Trump administration is mulling banning DeepSeek in the US on the basis of national security risks. The administration is also considering banning the company from gaining access to US-manufactured technologies, particularly Nvidia chips.

Nvidia CEO Meets Chinese Officials Amid Trade Tensions

In a move to de-escalate tensions, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently traveled to China and held meetings with top officials, including Vice Premier He Lifeng. In spite of Washington’s banning of Nvidia’s H20 AI chips, which cost the firm $5.5 billion, Huang reiterated devotion to the Chinese market.

While speaking with China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) chairman Ren Hongbin, Huang declared that Nvidia would keep interacting with Chinese companies irrespective of the economic effect of constant US-China trade tensions.

Uyghur Genocide

The Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic group, have been subject to widespread human rights violations in East Turkistan (China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region). In 2021, the U.S. Department of State officially recognized the Chinese government’s actions as genocide. Additionally, under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), numerous Chinese companies linked to forced labor practices have been sanctioned by U.S. authorities.

April 19 2025