US Approves Nvidia H200 Sales to Chinese Firms Tied to Blacklisted Companies
An investigation found the U.S. government approved sales of Nvidia's H200 AI chips to Chinese firms tied to blacklisted companies, including one whose listed office is an empty shell. Questions are growing over how the Commerce Department and Nvidia vet buyers.
The U.S. government has approved sales of Nvidia's H200 AI chips to Chinese companies with ties to blacklisted firms, according to a New York investigation published this month. The U.S. cleared Nvidia chips for at least one buyer whose listed office turned out to be empty.
The findings raise concerns that neither the Commerce Department nor Nvidia is doing proper due diligence, meaning background checks, on Chinese firms approved to handle the H200. The H200 is one of the company's AI processors.
An office with no company
The investigation focused on New Matrix, a company on the approved list. Its offices are empty, described as "a hollow gray shell with wires dangling from the ceiling where lights should be."
Investigators found little evidence the company exists in any meaningful way. New Matrix was created 17 months ago, and only scant information about it can be found online.
A company directory at the building New Matrix lists as its address does not include the firm. At the nearby property management agency for the industrial park, a receptionist and a manager both said they had no record of the company.
Ties to a blacklisted firm
New Matrix's owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm that the U.S. government has blacklisted since 2024. The investigation said this was not a rare lapse in oversight.
It described a troubling pattern of companies connected to entities under national-security-related trade restrictions being approved to buy Nvidia chips. Separate coverage said two Chinese companies cleared to buy the banned chips have empty offices and unknown addresses, and that their businesses have ties to sanctioned Chinese military suppliers.
How the rules changed
Nvidia was restricted from selling chips to China during the Biden presidency. The Trump administration relaxed those limits after Nvidia agreed to give the government a 15-percent cut of all sales.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also launched an intense lobbying campaign. He was apparently targeted by China's Ministry of State Security in a spying plot.
Huang has also rejected a push by Anthropic for a total ban on chip sales to China. Reports quoted him saying "I Completely Disagree" and describing America as a country that is about competition.
