Chinese university on US blacklist bought Nvidia H200 AI chips: report

A Chinese university with links to the country's military bought two of Nvidia's powerful H200 AI chips last month despite being on a U.S. export blacklist, according to Reuters.

Northwestern Polytechnical University purchased the chips for 874,700 yuan ($123,000) on October 21 through a local supplier, Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology, rather than directly from Nvidia.

The university is among China's so-called Seven Sons of National Defense, a group of institutions with ties to military research. Based in Xi'an, Northwestern Polytechnical conducts research related to military aircraft, missiles and satellites.

The H200 is one of Nvidia's most powerful processors for training and running advanced AI systems. Exports of the chips require U.S. government approval, with licences generally denied for institutions on the Entity List.

The U.S. Commerce Department added Northwestern Polytechnical to the trade blacklist in 2001 over alleged missile-proliferation activities and military research. Restrictions were tightened in 2019.

The university also obtained access to H200 chips and other advanced Nvidia processors through five contracts for rented computing capacity from Chinese companies this year, procurement records showed.

A Reuters review of 26 Chinese procurement and corporate records from this year found that universities and research institutions had purchased U.S.-restricted Nvidia chips or rented access to computing services powered by them through domestic suppliers. Some institutions had links to China's defence industry or military research.

A media report Tuesday said, an alleged affair between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and a Chinese businesswoman suspected of spying for Beijing helped facilitate at least $7.5B in shipments of the company's chips to Chinese firms.

Nvidia board has launched an internal investigation into whether 63-year-old Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. The FBI is also looking into the matter.

Message from Jim Robinson:

Dear FRiends,

We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.

If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you,

Jim

Huang resigned today. I doubt they can find a replacement with his ability. The returns on Nvidia shares have been phenomenal since it went public in 1999. He has continually reinvented Nvidia over the years.

The damage is done.

A couple months ago my wife and I saw him speak at a live streamed conference and I said, "That guy's a SPY".. LITTLE DID I KNOW, HA !

I really do think Jensen has been helping China ALL ALONG and that HE HIMSELF was a SPY. His honey-pot concubine was used as COVER to protect HIM IF the cover got blown.

Once again, THE DAMAGE IS DONE and we should KICK EVERY CHINESE NATIONAL OUT OF THE UNITED STATES BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS AN INTELLIGENCE ASSET FOR CHINA.

CHUCK FINA!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.