Chinese firms approved for Nvidia chips linked to empty offices

New Matrix and Maginfra, Chinese companies approved to purchase Nvidia H200 chips, had empty offices at their listed addresses, while people working nearby said they were unfamiliar with the businesses. The findings have raised concerns about whether the U.S. Department of Commerce and Nvidia are adequately checking buyers and enforcing export license conditions.

Public records link New Matrix founder Li Bin and other primary owners to Wise Road, a Chinese private equity firm sanctioned by the United States for helping Beijing acquire sensitive chip technologies. Li also chairs Tsinghua Unigroup and owns New H3C Semiconductor Technologies, which is on the Commerce Department’s Entity List for cooperating with the Chinese military. Maginfra is suspected of having links to sanctioned technology supplier Inspur through shared personnel, patents and a similar government ownership structure.

Neither company is designated as a final user of the chips. Instead, they are expected to assemble AI servers for customers whose identities remain unclear. Another approved buyer, Zhejiang Yindun Cloud Technology, reportedly has executive family ties to the founder of Range Intelligent Computing Technology Group, a data center operator that has sold computing capacity to Chinese military contractors. Former White House National Security Council China director Liza Tobin questioned whether Commerce and Nvidia were conducting sufficient due diligence.