Investigation: Two Chinese firms cleared to buy Nvidia H200 chips have empty offices and ties to sanctioned military suppliers
A New York Times investigation found that two Chinese companies, New Matrix and Maginfra, approved to purchase Nvidia H200 chips operate from empty offices and have executives linked to US-sanctioned Chinese military technology suppliers, raising concerns about US Commerce Department due diligence.
According to Tom's Hardware, an investigation by The New York Times found that two Chinese companies—New Matrix and Maginfra—that received approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce to purchase Nvidia H200 artificial intelligence chips had addresses leading to empty offices, with building receptionists unfamiliar with the firms.
The report states that New Matrix was founded by Li Bin, who along with two other primary owners is connected to Wise Road, a Chinese private equity firm sanctioned by the U.S. for helping Beijing acquire sensitive chip technologies. Furthermore, Li chairs Tsinghua Unigroup, a tech conglomerate partly owned by the Chinese government, and owns New H3C Semiconductor Technologies, which has also been added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List for cooperating with the Chinese military.
Maginfra is suspected of being linked to Inspur, which Washington blacklisted in 2023 for supporting the People’s Liberation Army, with both companies sharing personnel, patents, and a similar government ownership structure. These two firms are not listed as the final users of Nvidia’s AI chips; instead, they are supposed to assemble them into AI servers, which would then be forwarded to a final user, although their customers remain unclear.
These findings have heightened concerns that the U.S. Department of Commerce may be rubber-stamping GPU export license applications without scrutinizing each one for potential links to Beijing. Liza Tobin, former China director for the White House National Security Council, stated: “I have a ton of concerns that neither the Commerce Department or Nvidia is doing the due diligence needed to ensure that the licensing terms are being followed.”