According to Reuters, Northwestern Polytechnical University purchased two H200 chips for 874,700 yuan (approximately $123,000) last month, according to a procurement record published on October 21.
The university is part of China's “Seven Sons of National Defense”, a group of institutions known for conducting defence-related research. It works on military aircraft, missiles and satellite technologies.
The procurement record shows that the university's management school acquired the chips through a Chinese supplier, Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology, rather than directly from Nvidia.
The H200 is among Nvidia's most powerful processors for training and running advanced AI systems. Exports of the chips to China require US government approval, while licences for institutions on the US trade blacklist are generally subject to a policy of denial.
Reuters also found that Northwestern Polytechnical University obtained access to H200 chips and other powerful Nvidia processors through five contracts with Chinese companies for rented computing capacity this year.
Access to Restricted Chips Through Chinese Suppliers
The US Commerce Department added Northwestern Polytechnical University to its Entity List in 2001 over its alleged involvement in missile proliferation and military research. Restrictions were tightened in 2019, making licences for exports of controlled US technology to the university subject to a general policy of denial.
Despite these restrictions, procurement records show that the university's cybersecurity school signed two seven-month contracts in January to access servers containing eight H200 chips each. The contracts were worth 441,700 yuan and 441,000 yuan and covered AI model fine-tuning and reinforcement-learning training.
The university also rented access to servers containing Nvidia A100 and A800 processors, both of which are restricted from export to Chinese entities.
Reuters said its review of 26 Chinese procurement and corporate records from this year found that several universities and research institutions had purchased US-restricted Nvidia chips or rented access to computing services powered by them through domestic suppliers.
Other Chinese Universities Also Acquiring Restricted Chips
The records point to a wider market for restricted Nvidia processors and computing services at Chinese universities.
Shenzhen University purchased three H100 processors, another high-end Nvidia chip restricted from export to China, for 769,800 yuan in September.
Wuhan University of Technology bought a server containing an H100 chip for 355,000 yuan in June and acquired four A100 processors in a separate purchase worth 344,000 yuan.
Beihang University, another member of the Seven Sons of National Defense group with close links to China's aerospace and defence industries, purchased four A800 processors for 489,000 yuan in April.
Two government procurement announcements in July and September also identified suppliers selected to provide computing services using restricted Nvidia H800 and A800 chips to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Reuters has previously reported that Chinese institutions acquired restricted Nvidia processors embedded in servers manufactured by Super Micro Computer, Dell and Gigabyte through domestic resellers. The news agency has also documented an underground market for high-end Nvidia AI chips in China.
Nvidia and Jensen Huang
The findings come as Nvidia and its CEO Jensen Huang face mounting scrutiny in Washington over his efforts to persuade US policymakers to ease restrictions on AI chip sales to China.
Huang has argued that allowing American companies to continue selling AI chips to China would help preserve US technological leadership and keep Chinese customers dependent on American technology.
However, some US lawmakers have warned that access to advanced Nvidia processors could accelerate China's development of AI systems for weapons design, intelligence analysis and military modernisation.
The Trump administration began allowing some H200 exports to China on a case-by-case basis in January, but the policy did not remove separate restrictions on organisations listed under the Entity List.
US lawmakers from both parties have called for tighter controls, including chip-tracking requirements and greater congressional oversight of exports.
Three Republican congressional committee chairmen have also requested a briefing with Huang on November 18 over his reported contacts with an alleged Chinese intelligence operative.
Northwestern Polytechnical University, Nvidia and the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
The findings raise fresh questions about how effectively Washington can prevent restricted AI technology from reaching Chinese institutions through domestic suppliers and rented computing infrastructure.
