A Chinese university with deep ties to the People's Liberation Army bought two Nvidia H200 artificial intelligence chips last month despite being on a U.S. export blacklist, according to a Reuters report published Nov. 11, 2026. The purchase was documented in an Oct. 21 procurement record on the website of Northwestern Polytechnical University, the newswire reported.
The report surfaced as Nvidia and its chief executive, Jensen Huang, face scrutiny in Washington over lobbying for looser restrictions on AI chip sales to China, according to the report [1].
Procurement Record Details
The record listed two H200 chips at a cost of 874,700 yuan ($123,000) for the management school, the newswire reported.
The pattern described in the report is consistent with earlier findings about how restricted American hardware reaches Chinese institutions through intermediaries rather than direct sales. U.S. officials previously investigated whether Chinese AI startup DeepSeek used intermediaries in Singapore to acquire Nvidia's H800 chips [2].
Separately, federal prosecutors in March 2026 charged a co-founder of Super Micro Computer Inc. and two associates with participating in a scheme to divert roughly $2.5 billion in advanced Nvidia chips to China, according to an indictment unsealed at the time [3]. Those cases point to a persistent gray-market channel that operates alongside formal export licensing.
Sanctions Status and Export Rules
The report did not state whether the Commerce Department had granted any specific authorization for the university's purchases. The H200 has figured prominently in Washington's shifting China policy: The Trump administration reversed a policy to allow Nvidia to sell the H200 GPUs to China, a move that drew bipartisan concern in Congress over national security [4].
The broader enforcement picture has been uneven. Bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Chip Security Act in May 2025 to tighten export controls, mandate firmware-based verification and counter tactics used to evade restrictions [5]. In late May 2026, the Commerce Department issued updated guidance restricting Nvidia's sales of advanced AI chips to China, targeting the company's most sophisticated processors [6].
Responses and Nvidia Scrutiny
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to an affair with a suspected Chinese spy and the FBI opened a probe into the matter, according to the report [7]. President Donald Trump has praised Huang even as the FBI opened the probe [7].
Those developments were reported separately from the procurement records cited by Reuters. The scrutiny of Huang comes as Nvidia has argued that economic and technological ties binding Beijing and Washington remain deeper than widely perceived; Huang has said the idea of U.S. decoupling from China is flawed [8].
The debate has intensified as Chinese firms stockpile American hardware.
Conclusion
The Reuters report indicates that U.S. export restrictions did not prevent a sanctioned, PLA-linked university from obtaining access to Nvidia's H200 AI chips. No enforcement action or comment from U.S. officials was disclosed in the report.
The episode illustrates a recurring pattern in the technology competition between Washington and Beijing: restrictions announced in Washington are met with procurement strategies in China that route around direct sales.
References
- Chinese Army-Linked University Buys NVIDIA Chips Despite Restrictions - Wealth Adviser. https://www.wealthadviser.co/chinese-army-linked-university-buys-nvidia-chips-despite-restrictions
- Military-linked Chinese university bought Nvidia chips despite U.S. blacklist: Reuters exclusive. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/artificial-intelligence/2026/11/11/military-linked-chinese-university-bought-nvidia-chips-despite-us-blacklist-reuters-exclusive/
- PLA University Bought Nvidia H200s Despite US Blacklist ยท TFTC. https://www.tftc.io/pla-university-nvidia-h200-chips-us-blacklist-entity-list
- Blacklisted Chinese University Acquired Nvidia H200 AI Chips. https://www.facebook.com/taiwanplusnews/videos/reuters-blacklisted-chinese-university-acquired-nvidia-h200-ai-chips/1145349527865764/
- US adds 36 Chinese companies to export blacklist - NaturalNews.com, December 21, 2022.
- US blacklists dozens of Chinese firms to protect national security - NaturalNews.com, December 30, 2020.
- Trump administration expands Chinese export blacklist restricting chip sales - NaturalNews.com, October 01, 2025.
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