Report: blacklisted Chinese university bought two Nvidia H200 chips

What happened

• Northwestern Polytechnical University bought two Nvidia H200 AI chips on October 21 for 874,700 yuan ($123,000), according to a procurement record on its website cited by Reuters.
• The chips were purchased through local supplier Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology rather than directly from Nvidia, and the purchase was made for the university's management school, per reports.
• The university is part of China's "Seven Sons of National Defense" and conducts research on military aircraft, missiles and satellites; the US Commerce Department added it to the trade blacklist in 2001 and tightened restrictions in 2019.
• H200 exports require US government approval, which is generally denied for institutions on the Entity List, according to the reports.
• The university also obtained access to H200 chips and other advanced Nvidia processors this year through five contracts for rented computing capacity from Chinese companies, procurement records showed.
• Its cybersecurity school awarded two seven-month contracts in January for access to servers containing eight H200 chips each, and also rented servers with eight A100 and eight A800 chips, according to procurement records.
• A Reuters review of 26 Chinese procurement and corporate records this year found universities and research institutions buying US-restricted Nvidia chips or renting Nvidia-powered computing through domestic suppliers, some with defence or military research links.
• Separately, reports said Nvidia's board opened an internal investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, and the FBI is also looking into the matter.

Why it matters

The reported purchases suggest US export controls have gaps that let blacklisted Chinese institutions obtain advanced Nvidia chips indirectly, a focus of scrutiny as Nvidia faces questions in Washington over China sales.

What is unknown

The reports rely on procurement records and unnamed sourcing; Nvidia and the university have not been confirmed to comment here. Whether the chips were delivered as recorded, and how they were exported, is unverified. Claims about an alleged affair and spying operation involving Jensen Huang are unconfirmed allegations under investigation, not established facts.