Chinese university with PLA ties bought Nvidia H200 chips despite US export restrictions, records show

A Chinese university with deep connections to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) purchased Nvidia's powerful H200 AI chips last month despite being on a US export blacklist, according to procurement records. The development highlights gaps in Washington's efforts to restrict China's access to advanced technology. The findings emerge as Nvidia and its CEO, Jensen Huang, face increasing scrutiny in Washington over his lobbying efforts to ease restrictions on chip sales to China. This follows reports alleging that Huang was targeted by a Chinese spying operation.

Huang has maintained that continued US chip sales to China would help preserve America's technological leadership while keeping Chinese customers dependent on US technology. However, lawmakers from both parties argue that access to Nvidia's most powerful AI processors could accelerate China's development of AI systems for weapons design, intelligence analysis and military modernisation.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress have called for tighter controls on China's access to advanced AI chips, including chip-tracking requirements and increased congressional oversight of exports. Three Republican congressional committee chairmen have requested a briefing with Huang on November 18 regarding his reported contacts with an alleged Chinese intelligence operative.

Northwestern Polytechnical University, one of China's elite defence-focused institutions belonging to the "Seven Sons of National Defense" group, purchased two H200 chips last month for 874,700 yuan ($123,000), according to a procurement record published on its website on October 21. The university's management school purchased the processors from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology rather than directly from Nvidia, the record shows.

The H200 is among Nvidia's most powerful processors for training and running advanced AI systems. Its export is subject to US licensing requirements, which are generally denied for blacklisted institutions such as Northwestern Polytechnical University. The university also purchased access to H200 chips and other powerful Nvidia AI processors through five computing-capacity rental contracts with Chinese companies this year, according to procurement records.

Reuters reported the chip purchases and computing contracts for the first time. Northwestern Polytechnical University, Nvidia and the US Commerce Department'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

Located in the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an, Northwestern Polytechnical University conducts research related to military aircraft, missiles and satellites. The US Commerce Department added the university to its trade blacklist, known as the Entity List, in 2001 over its alleged involvement in missile-proliferation activities and military research. Restrictions were tightened in 2019, placing exports of controlled US technology to the institution under a policy of denial in most circumstances.

The university's purchases demonstrate how Chinese institutions with military connections continue to access US AI computing power through domestic suppliers. These arrangements include both direct chip purchases and rented access to servers equipped with the processors. A Reuters review of 26 Chinese procurement and corporate records from this year found that universities and research institutions had purchased US-restricted Nvidia chips or rented access to Nvidia-powered computing services through domestic suppliers. Several of these institutions had close connections to China's defence industry or military research.

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Nvidia chips for military-linked research

US President Donald Trump's administration started permitting some H200 chip exports to China on a case-by-case basis in January. However, the policy did not remove the separate restrictions imposed on organisations listed on the Entity List, including Northwestern Polytechnical University.

The January licensing rules also require safeguards to prevent blacklisted organisations and military end-users from remotely accessing chips exported under the policy. These requirements cover H200 processors and less advanced models. Besides purchasing two H200 chips outright for its management school, the university's procurement records show that its cybersecurity school awarded two seven-month contracts in January for access to servers containing eight H200 chips each.

The contracts were valued at 441,700 yuan and 441,000 yuan. They covered AI model fine-tuning and reinforcement-learning training. The university also rented access to servers containing eight Nvidia A100 chips and eight A800 chips. Both A100 and A800 processors are prohibited from export to all Chinese entities, while the H200 is the most advanced processor mentioned in Northwestern Polytechnical University's procurement records.

In April, another institute at the university purchased computing services requiring at least 24 A100 chips under a 375,000 yuan contract for structural and fluid-dynamics simulations. Several relatively unknown Chinese technology suppliers received the contracts. However, the procurement records provided limited information about the processors' origins or the locations where the rented servers were operating. Under Chinese law, public procurement agencies must verify that suppliers have the ability to fulfil orders before announcing successful bidders and signing contracts.

A wider market

The procurement records point to a broader market in which Chinese universities are obtaining restricted Nvidia AI chips and computing services. Shenzhen University purchased three H100 processors, another high-end Nvidia AI chip banned by the US, for 769,800 yuan in September. Wuhan University of Technology purchased a server containing an H100 chip for 355,000 yuan in June. It also bought four A100 chips in a separate transaction worth 344,000 yuan, according to the records.

Beihang University, another member of the Seven Sons of National Defense, purchased four A800 processors for 489,000 yuan in April. The university has close connections to China's aerospace and defence industries and conducts research for military aviation and space programmes. Two government procurement announcements published in July and September identified suppliers selected to provide computing services using Nvidia H800 and A800 chips, which are restricted from export to China, to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

One announcement listed access to H800 processors at 10 yuan per chip-hour. A separate procurement award published in January identified a supplier for six A100 chips worth 484,800 yuan for a public institution based in Shenzhen. Reuters had previously reported that Chinese institutions obtained restricted Nvidia chips embedded in servers manufactured by Super Micro Computer, Dell and Gigabyte through domestic resellers.

The news agency has also documented an underground market in China for restricted Nvidia processors sourced through overseas inventories and third-country intermediaries. Last week, Reuters reported that small quantities of H200 chips had reached China through indirect routes, even as Beijing withheld approval for large-scale imports.