Shell Companies Among Nvidia H200 Approved Buyers Draw Investigation

A New York Times investigation found that two of roughly 24 Chinese companies approved by the Commerce Department to handle Nvidia H200 chips are shell companies with no real operations and ties to sanctioned entities. New Matrix, approved to assemble H200 chips, had only an empty gray room at its Beijing address, was incorporated 17 months ago, and its shareholders are linked to Wise Road Capital, which the Commerce Department designated in 2024 for helping China acquire strategic semiconductors. Maginfra, also approved, is suspected to be an affiliate of Inspur, a Chinese firm on the Entity List for military-related activities; reporters visiting its office in September found a small locked room with empty desks. White House China affairs veteran Liza Tobin raised concerns that the Commerce Department and Nvidia failed to conduct adequate background checks on approved firms. Other approved companies among the roughly 24 also show connections to sanctioned firms and China's defense supply chain.

President Trump permitted H200 GPU sales to China in late 2025. Approximately 600,000 H200 chips are reportedly sitting in Hong Kong after China declined to allow them into the mainland; major tech companies received roughly 10,000 chips each, with total approvals potentially under 200,000. China is requiring its companies to use domestic chips such as Huawei's for AI inference while permitting Nvidia chips for training, and gray market prices for H200 chips are rising.

On the lobbying front, two current US Commerce officials said Nvidia lobbied especially hard against remote access restrictions, the route Chinese AI labs use to reach restricted chips hosted in Singapore and Malaysia data centers, and that this lobbying combined with opposition from other officials previously blocked Commerce and Congress from writing new rules. In late October the White House asked Congress to add a provision to the Overwatch Act requiring Commerce to write a remote access rule, and also asked to narrow the Match Act to cover only advanced chip production.

Separately, the Information Technology Industry Council sent a letter to Senate and House Armed Services Committee leaders in September urging rejection of the Chip Security Act, AI OVERWATCH Act, and MATCH Act from the FY2027 NDAA, arguing those provisions would freeze AI chip export controls in statute for eighteen months and undermine US competitiveness against China.