Military-linked Chinese university bought Nvidia chips despite U.S. blacklist: Reuters exclusive

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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 U.S. export blacklist, procurement records show, highlighting gaps in Washington’s efforts to curb China’s access to advanced technology.

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 U.S. export blacklist, procurement records show, highlighting gaps in Washington’s efforts to curb China’s access to advanced technology.

The findings come as Nvidia and its CEO Jensen Huang face mounting scrutiny in Washington over his lobbying for looser restrictions on sales of AI chips to China, following reports alleging he was targeted by a Chinese spying operation.

Huang has argued that continued U.S. sales to China would preserve American technological leadership and keep Chinese customers reliant on U.S. technology. But some U.S. lawmakers say access to Nvidia’s most powerful AI chips can speed China’s development of AI systems for weapons design, intelligence analysis and military modernization.

Both Democrats and Republicans in U.S. Congress have urged stronger controls on China’s access to advanced AI chips, such as chip-tracking requirements and greater congressional oversight of exports. Three Republican congressional committee chairmen have requested a briefing with Huang on Nov. 18 over his reported contacts with an alleged Chinese intelligence operative.

Northwestern Polytechnical University bought two H200 chips last month for 874,700 yuan (US$123,000), according to an October 21 procurement record on its website.

Northwestern is a member of the “Seven Sons of National Defense” group of Chinese universities under U.S. sanctions and with a history of conducting defence-related research for Beijing.

The chips were purchased for its management school from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology rather than directly from Nvidia, the record shows.

The H200 is among Nvidia’s most capable chips for training and running advanced AI systems and is subject to U.S. export license approvals, which are normally denied for blacklisted institutions such as Northwestern Polytechnical.

Northwestern Polytechnical also bought access…

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