Chinese military-linked university acquired Nvidia H200 chips despite US curbs
BEIJING: A Chinese university with deep ties to the People’s Liberation Army bought Nvidia’s powerful H200 AI chips last month despite being on a US export blacklist, procurement records show, highlighting gaps in Washington’s efforts to curb China’s access to advanced technology.
Chinese military-affiliated Northwestern Polytechnical University has acquired two Nvidia H200 AI chips in October, despite being listed on the U.S. export blacklist, according to procurement records. This acquisition highlights potential loopholes in Washington's efforts to restrict China's access to advanced technology. The university is part of the "Seven Sons of National Defence" network of Chinese institutions under U.S. sanctions, with a history of conducting defence-related research for Beijing.
Northwestern Polytechnical purchased the H200 chips for its management school from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology, not directly from Nvidia. The H200 chip is among Nvidia's most powerful for training and running advanced AI systems and is subject to U.S. export licence approvals, which are typically denied for blacklisted institutions.
The university also secured access to H200 chips and other Nvidia AI processors through five contracts for rented computing capacity from Chinese companies. This follows U.S. President Donald Trump's administration's allowance of some H200 exports to China on a case-by-case basis in January, although this did not lift the separate restrictions on Entity List organizations, such as Northwestern Polytechnical, which require safeguards to prevent remote access by military end-users.
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