Chinese University Import Nvidia H200 Chip at $61,000 Per Piece

· A Chinese university with deep ties to the People's Liberation Army bought Nvidia's powerful H200 AI chips last month despite being on a US export blacklist, procurement records show, highlighting gaps in Washington's efforts to curb China's access to advanced technology, Reuters news service reported.

The findings come as Nvidia and its CEO Jensen Huang face mounting scrutiny in Washington over his lobbying for looser restrictions on sales of AI chips to China, following reports alleging he was targeted by a Chinese spying operation.

Northwestern Polytechnical University bought two H200 chips last month for 874,700 yuan ($123,000), according to an October 21 procurement record on its website.

Northwestern is a member of the “Seven Sons of National Defense” group of Chinese universities under US sanctions and with a history of conducting defense-related research for Beijing.

The chips were purchased for its management school from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology rather than directly from Nvidia, the record shows.

The H200 is among Nvidia's most capable chips for training and running advanced AI systems ? and is subject to US export licence approvals, which are normally denied for blacklisted institutions such as Northwestern Polytechnical.

Northwestern Polytechnical also bought access this year to H200 chips and other powerful Nvidia AI processors through five contracts for rented computing capacity from Chinese companies, procurement records show.