The Commerce Department approved Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chips to a Chinese company that appears to have no real operations and whose owners have connections to a blacklisted firm, according to a New York Times investigation. New Matrix, created 17 months ago, lists an address where the Times found empty offices with wires hanging from the ceiling. A building directory did not include the company, and property management staff said they had no record of it.
What limited information exists about New Matrix raises security concerns. The company's owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm that the US government blacklisted in 2024. The Times reported this is part of a broader pattern in which companies connected to entities facing national security trade restrictions have been approved to purchase Nvidia chips.
Nvidia had been barred from selling chips to China during the Biden administration. The Trump administration loosened those restrictions after Nvidia agreed to give the government a 15 percent cut of all sales. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also conducted an intense lobbying campaign and was reportedly targeted by China's Ministry of State Security in a spying operation.
The approvals have raised questions about whether the Commerce Department and Nvidia are adequately vetting Chinese firms cleared to handle the company's advanced AI chips. The H200 chips are among Nvidia's most powerful processors for artificial intelligence applications.