Chinese defence-linked university bought Nvidia H200 chips despite US curbs
Procurement records show Northwestern Polytechnical University obtained restricted Nvidia AI chips through local suppliers, AFP and Reuters reported.
A Chinese university with close links to the country's defence sector bought Nvidia H200 artificial intelligence chips through local suppliers despite US export controls, according to procurement records reviewed separately by AFP and Reuters.
Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an paid 874,700 yuan for two H200 chips from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology, not from Nvidia directly, under a notice dated October 21, CNA reported, citing AFP. CNA gave the sum as US$131,200. Mint, carrying an ANI report based on Reuters, put it at around US$123,000. The chips were for the university's management school.
AFP also saw a notice dated September 4 showing the cybersecurity school bought two more H200s for 796,000 yuan. Neither notice could be accessed on the university's website on Thursday, according to CNA. AFP said it had asked both schools for comment.
The university is one of China's "Seven Sons of National Defence" institutions. Mint reported that it researches military aircraft, missiles and satellites, and that the US Commerce Department put it on its Entity List in 2001 over alleged involvement in missile proliferation and military research. Since restrictions were tightened in 2019, most licence applications to export controlled US technology to it have faced a policy of denial.
According to the Reuters records, the cybersecurity school also signed two seven-month contracts in January, worth 441,700 yuan and 441,000 yuan, for access to servers holding eight H200 chips each. The work covered AI model training and reinforcement learning. The school also rented servers with Nvidia A100 and A800 chips, which cannot be exported to any Chinese entity.
Mint reported that Reuters reviewed 26 procurement and corporate records from this year and found other institutions doing the same. Shenzhen University bought three H100 processors for 769,800 yuan in September. Wuhan University of Technology bought a server with one H100 and four A100s, and Beihang University, another Seven Sons member, bought four A800s in April.
The Trump administration began approving some H200 exports to China case by case in January. Mint reported that this did not lift restrictions on Entity List institutions.
The reports come while Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is under scrutiny. Huang has acknowledged an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, a senior executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed whom CNA described as accused of spying for Beijing. The two are not related.
CNA cited the Wall Street Journal, quoting people familiar with the matter, as reporting that the board is preparing to oust Huang. Mint reported that the board has appointed former acting US Attorney Joon H. Kim and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to run an independent investigation. Nvidia shares closed 5.44 per cent lower at US$168.95 on Tuesday.
Sources: CNA, Chinese university bought advanced Nvidia chips despite US curbs; Mint, US-blacklisted Chinese university buys Nvidia H200 AI chips through domestic suppliers: Report.
