Reuters reported on 11 November, citing Chinese procurement records, that Xi’an-based Northwestern Polytechnical University paid 874,700 yuan (about $123,000) for two Nvidia H200 chips in October. The seller was the Chinese company Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology, not Nvidia.

The H200 is among Nvidia’s most powerful chips for training and running AI models. The university researches military aircraft, missiles and satellites. In 2001 the US Commerce Department added it to the Entity List, whose members are in practice barred from controlled US technology. In 2019 the department tightened the restrictions so that licence applications are generally rejected. In January the Trump administration began allowing H200 exports to China case by case, but the decision did not cover entities on the list.

Chips bought and rented through intermediaries

This year the university also bought computing capacity from Chinese companies under five contracts. In January its cybersecurity school signed two seven-month contracts for access to servers containing eight H200 chips each. The university also rented access to servers with A100 and A800 chips, which may not be exported to any Chinese entity. The January licence conditions require safeguards that stop listed and military users from accessing chips exported under licence remotely. The records do not, however, show where the chips came from or where the rented servers are located.

Reuters reviewed 26 records from this year. According to these records, other universities, including Shenzhen University and defence-linked Beihang, have also bought restricted chips from domestic suppliers. Northwestern Polytechnical, Nvidia and the Commerce Department’s export control agency, BIS, did not respond to Reuters’ questions.

Commerce secretary holds back, Congress weighs legislation

The report came amid a scandal: Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has admitted a relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed. CNBC reported that the New York Times wrote in October that US officials regard Alice Huang as a source for Chinese intelligence. China has denied the spying allegations.

Axios reported on 11 November, citing six sources, that President Donald Trump has approved action at least three times this year against companies suspected of diverting Nvidia chips to China. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has delayed implementation and warned that the restrictions ‘will start a trade war with China’, the sources said. A Commerce Department spokesperson denied that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had rebuked Lutnick in a meeting and did not immediately comment on the other claims.

Germany’s heise, citing The Information, reported that Alice Huang’s family network of companies supplied at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips to China. The Information’s sources are two people who know Alice Huang.

Members of Congress, aides and lobbyists interviewed by Politico expect the scandal to make Congress more likely to tighten chip exports in this year’s defence budget bill. Three lobbyists said the most likely addition is the Chip Security Act, which would require advanced chips to carry a mechanism that verifies their location. Reuters reported that three Republican committee chairs have asked Jensen Huang to explain these connections by 18 November.