US cleared Nvidia H200 chips for Chinese firms with empty offices

The Commerce Department cleared roughly two dozen Chinese firms to buy or handle Nvidia's H200 AI chips, including New Matrix and Maginfra, whose listed offices New York Times reporters found empty and whose ownership or personnel links run to companies on the U.S. Entity List, according to a New York Times investigation published November 7th, 2026. The approvals test whether case-by-case licensing can screen intermediaries as well as named buyers, with the control point for the most powerful AI chips Washington allows into China resting on paperwork regulators did not verify on the ground.

US cleared Nvidia H200 chips for Chinese firms with empty offices A Times investigation found New Matrix and Maginfra cleared to assemble H200 servers despite empty listed offices and links to blacklisted firms. By Ryan Merket https://runtimewire.com/author/ryan-merket · Published · Updated Primary source: x.com https://x.com/AnaSwanson/status/2119132013357904335 Why it matters The approvals test whether case-by-case licensing can screen intermediaries as well as named buyers. The control point for the most powerful AI chips Washington allows into China is paperwork whose accuracy regulators did not verify on the ground. The Commerce Department cleared roughly two dozen Chinese firms to buy or handle Nvidia's H200 AI chips, including New Matrix and Maginfra, whose listed offices reporters found empty and whose ownership or personnel links run to companies on the U.S. Entity List, according to a New York Times investigation https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/07/business/economy/nvidia-chips-chinese-firms.html?unlocked article code=1.OlE.uwQZ.BEnKKsYOn2Az&smid=url-share published on November 7th, 2026.… When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission https://runtimewire.com/affiliate-monetization-standards . This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.