US delays blacklisting Chinese AI firm DeepSeek despite security risks
The U.S. Commerce Department delayed adding Chinese AI firm DeepSeek and more than 100 other companies to a trade blacklist despite approval by an interagency committee, reportedly to avoid escalating tensions with China. DeepSeek reportedly supported Chinese military and intelligence operations, attempted to illegally access U.S. chips through shell companies, and targeted AI capabilities from Anthropic and OpenAI.
What happened
DeepSeek, memory chipmaker CXMT and more than 100 other Chinese companies flagged as national security risks were approved by a U.S. interagency committee last year for addition to the Commerce Department's Entity List, but have not been added to the blacklist as of June 2026.
According to a senior U.S. State Department official, DeepSeek has supported China's military and intelligence operations and tried to use Southeast Asian shell companies to illegally access advanced U.S. chips.
Anthropic identified a campaign by DeepSeek and two other Chinese AI labs to illicitly extract capabilities from its Claude AI platform, and OpenAI warned lawmakers that DeepSeek was also targeting its models.
Reported impact
The U.S. has not posted any additions to its Entity List since October, the longest stretch between new postings in more than a decade, limiting enforcement of trade restrictions against companies flagged as security threats.
Index analysis
The Trump administration delayed blacklisting DeepSeek and other firms to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing amid tense U.S.-China rivalry over technology, trade and national security.
Governance controls
U.S. companies cannot ship goods, software and technology to companies on the Entity List without a license, which is likely to be denied.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security stated it uses 'many policy and enforcement tools, including the Entity List ... on a daily basis to ensure we are combating bad actors,' but did not explain the delay in updating the list.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.