DeepSeek, the Chinese startup behind competitive LLMs, is reportedly moving into custom chip design after a year of groundwork. The company is meeting hardware partners and hiring engineers to build inference-focused data center chips, aiming to reduce reliance on both Huawei and Nvidia. This comes as US export bans limit Nvidia’s reach in China, where Huawei dominates. But it’s not just a Chinese trend—OpenAI and Anthropic are also exploring custom silicon. Why it matters: As AI compute demand explodes, control over hardware is becoming as crucial as the software itself, reshaping the global tech landscape.