Beijing, November 11 (Reuters) – A Chinese university with close ties to the People’s Liberation Army purchased Nvidia’s powerful H200 artificial intelligence chips last month, despite being listed on the U.S. export ban list, according to purchase records, highlighting gaps in Washington’s efforts to restrict China’s access to advanced technology.
These findings come as Nvidia and its chief executive, Jensen Huang, face increasing scrutiny in Washington due to the lobbying he has been conducting for laxer restrictions on the sale of AI chips to China, following reports alleging that he had been the target of a Chinese espionage operation.
Huang argued that continuing U.S. sales to China would preserve American technological leadership and keep Chinese customers dependent on American technology. But some U.S. lawmakers say that access to Nvidia’s most powerful AI chips could accelerate Chinese development of AI systems for weapon design, intelligence analysis, and military modernization.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress have pressed for tighter controls on China’s access to advanced AI chips, such as chip-tracking requirements and greater congressional oversight of exports. Three chairs of Republican committees in Congress sought a meeting with Huang on November 18 to discuss their alleged contacts with a purported Chinese intelligence agent.
Northwestern Polytechnical University bought two H200 chips last month for 874,700 yuan (US$123,000), according to an acquisition record dated October 21 published on its website.
Northwestern Polytechnical University is a member of the group of Chinese universities known as the “Seven Sons of National Defense,” which is under U.S. sanctions and has a history of conducting defense-related research for Beijing.
The record shows that the chips were purchased for its Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology School of Management, and not directly from Nvidia.
The H200 is among Nvidia’s most powerful chips for training and running advanced AI systems and is subject to U.S. export license approvals, which are typically denied to entities on the restricted list.
The same university also gained access this year to Nvidia’s H200 chips and other powerful AI processors through five contracts renting computing capacity with Chinese firms, according to purchase records.
Northwestern Polytechnical University, Nvidia, and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees export controls, did not respond to requests for comment.
Reuters was unable to determine contact details for Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology.
Trade blacklist
Headquartered in Xi’an, in the northwest of the country, Northwestern Polytechnical University conducts research related to aircraft, missiles, and satellites.
The U.S. Department of Commerce added the university to its trade prohibition list, known as the Entity List, in 2001, due to its alleged involvement in missile proliferation activities and military-related research. In 2019, the department tightened restrictions, making licenses to export U.S.-controlled technology to the university subject to a presumption of denial in most circumstances.
Northwestern Polytechnical University purchases show how Chinese institutions with military ties continue to obtain U.S.-based AI computing power through domestic suppliers, whether by buying chips directly or by renting access to servers that house them.
A Reuters analysis of 26 Chinese corporate and purchasing records this year showed that universities and research institutions were buying Nvidia chips subject to U.S. restrictions or renting access to computing services based on Nvidia technology that use those chips through domestic suppliers. Many of them maintained close ties to China’s defense industry or military research.
The universities named in the records did not respond to comment requests.
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista)
