A Chinese university with close links to the People’s Liberation Army has purchased two of Nvidia’s advanced H200 artificial intelligence processors despite being subject to US export restrictions, according to procurement records, highlighting gaps in Washington’s efforts to prevent sensitive technology from reaching Chinese military-linked institutions.
Northwestern Polytechnical University purchased the two processors for 874,700 yuan ($123,000) last month through a Chinese technology supplier, Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology, rather than directly from Nvidia, according to an October 21 procurement record published on the university’s website.
The university is among China’s so-called Seven Sons of National Defense, a group of institutions with extensive defence-related research connections. Based in the north-western city of Xi’an, Northwestern Polytechnical conducts research involving military aircraft, missiles and satellites.
The H200 is among Nvidia’s most powerful processors for training and operating advanced AI systems. Its export to China requires US government licensing, with applications normally denied for institutions on Washington’s trade blacklist. Northwestern Polytechnical was added to the US Commerce Department’s Entity List in 2001 over alleged involvement in missile proliferation and military research. Restrictions were tightened in 2019, making licences for exports of controlled US technology to the university subject to a general policy of denial.
Reuters also found that the university obtained access to H200 processors and other restricted Nvidia chips through computing-capacity rental agreements with Chinese companies. Its cybersecurity school awarded two seven-month contracts in January, worth 441,700 yuan and 441,000 yuan, for access to servers containing eight H200 processors each. The services were intended for AI model fine-tuning and reinforcement-learning training.
Additional procurement records show that the university rented computing capacity involving eight Nvidia A100 processors and eight A800 processors, both subject to US export restrictions covering Chinese entities.
The findings form part of a Reuters review of 26 Chinese procurement and corporate records from this year, which identified universities and research institutions purchasing restricted Nvidia processors or renting access to computing services powered by them through domestic suppliers. Several institutions had close connections to China’s defence industry or military research programmes.
Other universities also appeared in the records. Shenzhen University purchased three Nvidia H100 processors, another high-end chip prohibited from export to China, for 769,800 yuan in September. Wuhan University of Technology acquired a server containing an H100 processor for 355,000 yuan in June and purchased four A100 processors in a separate transaction worth 344,000 yuan.
Beihang University, another member of the Seven Sons of National Defense, purchased four Nvidia A800 processors for 489,000 yuan in April. The institution has close connections to China’s aerospace and defence industries and conducts research for military aviation and space programmes.
Two government procurement announcements in July and September also identified suppliers selected to provide computing services using restricted Nvidia H800 and A800 processors to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. One contract listed access to H800 computing capacity at 10 yuan per chip-hour.
The procurement records generally provided limited information about the origins of the processors or the locations of the servers. Chinese procurement rules require agencies to verify suppliers’ ability to fulfil orders before announcing successful bidders and signing contracts.
The purchases come amid increasing political scrutiny of Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s advocacy for easing US restrictions on chip exports to China. Huang has argued that allowing continued sales would preserve American technological leadership and keep Chinese customers dependent on US technology. However, some US lawmakers contend that access to advanced Nvidia processors could accelerate China’s development of artificial intelligence applications for weapons design, intelligence analysis and military modernisation.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have called for tighter export controls, including chip-tracking requirements and greater congressional oversight. Three Republican congressional committee chairmen have requested a briefing with Huang on November 18 concerning his reported contacts with an alleged Chinese intelligence operative.
The Trump administration began permitting certain H200 exports to China on a case-by-case basis in January, but the policy did not remove restrictions applying to organisations on the Entity List. Reuters previously documented restricted Nvidia processors entering China through domestic resellers, overseas inventories and third-country intermediaries. Last week, it also reported that small quantities of H200 processors had reached China through indirect routes while Beijing withheld approval for large-scale imports.
