China's PLA University Buys Banned Nvidia Chips

Northwestern Polytechnical University, a Chinese institution with extensive links to the People's Liberation Army, recently purchased Nvidia's advanced H200 AI chips. This acquisition is significant as the university is currently on a US export blacklist, indicating potential vulnerabilities in Washington's technology export controls.

The university, a member of China's defense-focused 'Seven Sons of National Defense' group, bought two H200 chips for approximately 874,700 yuan ($123,000) in October 2026. These high-performance chips are essential for training and running sophisticated AI systems and are subject to strict US export regulations, typically denied to blacklisted entities.

Further complicating the issue, Northwestern Polytechnical has also secured access to H200 and other powerful Nvidia AI processors through rented computing capacity contracts with Chinese companies throughout 2026. This pattern suggests a broader trend of Chinese institutions with military connections obtaining US AI computing power via domestic suppliers, either through direct purchases or leased services.

The US government has been increasingly concerned that access to such advanced AI chips could accelerate China's development of military applications, including weapons design and intelligence analysis. Lawmakers have called for enhanced controls, including chip-tracking requirements and greater oversight of exports, to prevent the circumvention of existing restrictions.