The New York Times published an investigation on Saturday 7 November into Chinese companies that the US Commerce Department has allowed to buy or handle Nvidia’s H200 AI chips. The Verge and The Jerusalem Post were among the outlets that summarised it.

About two dozen companies have received licences, including Baidu, BYD and Tesla Shanghai, The Jerusalem Post reported. Each may buy tens of thousands of chips. OrigoTech wrote that one news roundup had mentioned more than 40 licences, but the site could not confirm the figure.

Empty office and blacklisted owners

The investigation centres on New Matrix, founded 17 months ago. At the address the company had listed, in an industrial park near Beijing, NYT reporters found an empty office with wires hanging from the ceiling. The building directory did not list the company, and the industrial park’s management had no record of it.

According to Chinese corporate records, New Matrix’s owners have connections to the private equity firm Wise Road. The Commerce Department added Wise Road to its blacklist in 2024 for allegedly helping the Chinese government acquire strategically important semiconductor companies. Two analysts told the NYT that New Matrix may be a front for companies linked to Wise Road.

Maginfra’s listed office also appeared deserted when NYT reporters visited. Analysts link the company to the server maker Inspur, which the US has put on its export restriction list over ties to the Chinese military. Corporate records indicate that the two companies share personnel and patents, and both have state ownership. The newspaper also found links to military suppliers at two other licensed companies, Zhejiang Yindun Cloud Technology and Shanghai Jiatang.

OrigoTech pointed out that an empty address does not prove a company does not exist: it may operate elsewhere. Nor do the summaries reveal whether any chips have been delivered to New Matrix or Maginfra, the site said.

The NYT did not show that any chips had reached the Chinese military.

Conflicting accounts of payment and oversight

The Trump administration allowed H200 sales to China in December 2025. The administration relaxed the restrictions after Nvidia agreed to give the government 15 per cent of all its sales, The Verge reported, without specifying whether this cut applies to the H200 arrangement. Under the H200 arrangement, chips made in Taiwan pass through the US, where a 25 per cent tariff is levied on their value, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Liza Tobin, former China director at the White House National Security Council, told the NYT: ‘I have a ton of concerns that neither the Commerce Department nor Nvidia is doing the due diligence needed to ensure that the licensing terms are being followed.’

The Commerce Department’s export control agency, BIS, said it reviews applications carefully, The Jerusalem Post reported. The agency said it imposed $324 million in penalties for export violations in 2025 and has hired more than 90 enforcement officers in 2026.

Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo said it makes no sense for the Chinese military to rely on American technology. Rizzo said China has restricted H200 imports to favour domestic manufacturers. Nvidia’s reports show that H200 chips shipped to China brought in less than 1 per cent of the company’s data centre revenue in the quarter that ended in July.