Records Show PLA-Linked Chinese University Bought Nvidia's Restricted H200 Chips
A blacklisted university tied to China's military obtained advanced AI chips despite U.S. export controls, as scrutiny of Nvidia intensifies.
By KEVIN NAKAMURAInvestigations & Special Reports · Nov 11, 7:00 AM
NEW YORK — A Chinese university tied to the People's Liberation Army bought Nvidia's advanced H200 artificial intelligence chips despite being on a U.S. blacklist, according to procurement records reported Wednesday.
The New York Post reported that Northwestern Polytechnical University, which Washington has blacklisted, purchased the H200 chips, citing procurement records. Al Jazeera reported that the records were part of a Reuters review of 26 Chinese procurement and corporate records from this year showing universities and research institutions buying restricted Nvidia chips or renting access to computing powered by them.
Northwestern Polytechnical University, in the city of Xi'an, is one of China's elite defense-focused universities known as the "Seven Sons of National Defense," and it does research on military aircraft, missiles and satellites, Al Jazeera reported. The U.S. Entity List has covered the school since 2001, and the restrictions were tightened in 2019.
According to the report, the university bought two H200 chips last month for about 874,700 yuan, roughly $123,000, listed in an October 21 procurement notice on its website. The chips were bought from a reseller, Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology, not directly from Nvidia, and were meant for the school's management school. The university also signed five contracts this year to…
