How blacklisted Chinese firm gained access to America’s latest AI chip tech

New Delhi: Chinese company Inspur Group continued to supply at least $5.6 billion worth of advanced technology AI chips from the US to China from April 2024 to February 2026 despite being blacklisted by Washington over alleged “security risks,” according to a report by The New York Times.

According to the report, after the US authorities put Inspur on the blacklist in 2023 over national security concerns, the Chinese company changed the name of its California operations to Aivres. The subsidiary continued operating from the same offices with the same workforce while allegedly serving the Chinese parent’s global business, the investigation by the leading US daily showed.

NYT reported that the high technology exports by Aivres included more than $3 billion in AI servers built with Nvidia’s latest Blackwell chips, based on trade records analysed by ImportGenius and NYT. These exports were first dispatched to Southeast Asia from where they were diverted to China.

Aivres continued with its Chinese parent company’s work, helping it build a thriving global network to provide the computing power that supplies China’s growing artificial intelligence industry.

The issue of Chinese firms getting access to cutting-edge technology, particularly high-end computer chips made by Nvidia, has become a hot question in Silicon Valley and Washington, where executives and officials worry that China could use A.I. for hacking, surveillance and military operations.

Chinese AI companies are also closing the performance gap on systems made by their American competitors, raising concerns that the Chinese companies are using US technology.

The subsidiary continued with its Chinese parent company’s work, helping it build a thriving global network to provide the computing power that supplies China’s growing artificial intelligence industry, the report states.

The US government prohibits the most advanced chips, like the Blackwell chip from tech giant Nvidia, from being sent to any company in China. U.S. law also bars any company anywhere in the world from buying restricted products made with American technology on behalf of a blacklisted company.

The Silicon Valley subsidiary, which appears to be taking advantage of several loopholes in U.S. export law, has played a key role in Inspur’s sidestepping of American restrictions. Federal officials have begun looking into the subsidiary’s business, but it is not clear where that inquiry stands, said four officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss it, according to the NYT report.

The New York Times examined thousands of shipment records, corporate documents and supply contracts to piece together how Inspur’s network works. Reporters also visited sites in China, Southeast Asia and California, and spoke with more than a dozen current and former officials, tech executives and industry analysts.

IANS