Investigation Finds Chinese Military-Linked Firms Somehow Gained Approval To Assemble NVIDIA H200 AI GPUs, Highlighting A Half-Baked U.S. Approval System

NVIDIA’s H200 hasn’t received a blanket ban in China under U.S. export control rules, but these chips will still be subjected to routine approval before being shipped out. However, the latest development could force the Trump administration to change its stance. After all, a fresh investigation reveals that federal regulators cleared the aforementioned AI GPU shipments to Chinese entities that were operating out of deserted offices with direct links to sanctioned military suppliers.

U.S. regulators apparently greenlit NVIDIA H200 AI chip sales to Chinese shell firms that were operating out of ghost offices

According to an investigative report by The New York Times, the Commerce Department approved roughly two dozen Chinese firms to buy or handle NVIDIA’s H200 AI accelerators. President Trump earlier relaxed the export bans late last year after lobbying by CEO Jensen Huang, creating an unusual arrangement where chips assembled in Taiwan were routed through the U.S. so the latter could grab a taste of that 25 percent tariff

While recognizable firms like Baidu, BYD, Tesla Shanghai, Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and ZTE Kangxun received approvals, investigators discovered that clearance was also granted to paper-thin operations. Reporters visiting the registered Beijing address of an approved firm called ‘New Matrix’ discovered a vacant concrete shell with wires dangling from ceilings, no company directory listing, and a building…