Chinese university bought advanced Nvidia chips despite US curbs

BEIJING - A Chinese university with close ties to the country's defence bodies recently bought advanced AI chips made by tech giant Nvidia, procurement notices show, despite stringent US controls.

China and the United States are locked in a fierce competition for supremacy in the strategic and rapidly growing field of artificial intelligence, and Nvidia’s market-leading products have become a major point of contention.

The findings come as the California-based firm is embroiled in crisis following revelations that co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang may have been caught up in a Chinese espionage operation, sending its shares tumbling.

Northwestern Polytechnical University in the city of Xi’an purchased two Nvidia H200 chips from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology — not Nvidia directly — for 874,700 yuan ($131,200), according to a procurement notice dated October 21.

H200 chips are subject to US export controls that limit direct shipments to China and apply certain restrictions on their resale globally.

The H200 chips were purchased for the management school of NPU, which is one of China’s “Seven Sons of National Defence” universities that conduct defence-related research and maintain links with the country’s military.

The procurement notice seen by AFP was no longer accessible on the school’s website on Thursday.

AFP has contacted the NPU School of Management for comment.

Another procurement notice dated September 4, also seen by AFP but no longer accessible as of Thursday, shows that NPU’s cybersecurity school purchased two Nvidia H200s for 796,000 yuan.

AFP has contacted the NPU School of Management and School of Cybersecurity for comment.

The spotlight is already on Nvidia’s relationship with China this week after the news of Huang’s extramarital affair with a woman accused of spying for Beijing.

Huang — who has a close relationship with US President Donald Trump — has publicly acknowledged his affair with Alice Huang, a senior executive at the Singapore-based data centre Megaspeed. The two bear no familial relation.

The Nvidia board is preparing to oust Jensen Huang, according to the Wall Street Journal, which quoted people familiar with the matter.