Chinese universities, research institutes and other state-linked buyers obtained advanced Nvidia chips embedded in servers bought from resellers, Reuters reported on April 23, 2024. The reviewed tenders document downstream purchases—not direct shipments by Nvidia—and do not establish where the chips came from, whether any manufacturer knowingly supplied them, or how buyers planned to use them.
How did Chinese buyers get Nvidia chips?
Rather than ordering chips directly from Nvidia, buyers purchased servers containing the chips from little-known Chinese retailers. The servers were made by Super Micro Computer, Dell Technologies and Taiwan-based Gigabyte Technology. Reuters said it reviewed hundreds of Chinese tender documents; the tenders named the resellers as sellers.
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This distinction matters: the documents describe hardware changing hands through downstream sales of complete servers. They do not show that Nvidia or a server manufacturer directly shipped the restricted chips to the named buyers.
What did the tenders establish?
Reuters identified 10 Chinese entities that acquired advanced Nvidia chips and 11 retailers listed as sellers. The reported tenders were fulfilled between November 20, 2023, and February 28, 2024—after the United States expanded export controls on November 17, 2023.
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- Named buyers included the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shandong Artificial Intelligence Institute, Hubei Earthquake Administration, Shandong and Southwest universities, a Heilongjiang provincial-government-owned technology investment firm, a state aviation research centre and a space science centre.
- The purchases described were limited to several servers and several dozen chips, rather than a large-scale acquisition.
- Tender values ranged from 71,500 yuan to 1.86 million yuan, which Reuters reported as approximately $10,000 to $259,000.
- The tender documents did not state the intended uses, and Reuters did not identify exact chip models or server configurations.
These figures apply to tenders Reuters reviewed whose winners had been announced. Reuters noted that public tender databases cover only a fraction of purchases by Chinese state entities, so the review does not establish the full scale of such acquisitions.
Did the chips come from before the restrictions?
That remains unresolved. Reuters could not determine whether the resellers supplied chips from inventories acquired before the tighter controls or whether the hardware reached them through post-control diversion. The fact that a tender was fulfilled after November 17 does not, by itself, establish when or how the chips entered the supply chain.
Nvidia said the tenders specified products that had been exported and were widely available before the restrictions. It said: “They do not indicate that any of our partners violated the export control rules and are a negligible fraction of the products sold worldwide.” That response does not identify the chips’ provenance in these transactions.
What did the server makers say?
Super Micro
Super Micro said the identified tenders involved “older generation or general purpose servers not capable of the largest scale AI operations that were available in China prior to the export control regulations.”
Dell
Dell said it found no evidence that it had shipped products configured with the restricted chips to the named entities and said it would continue investigating.
Gigabyte
Gigabyte said it complied with Taiwanese laws and international regulations.
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Reuters did not establish that any of the three manufacturers knowingly supplied restricted hardware to the buyers. Nor did the reporting determine whether the chips were installed in servers before export or added later.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Were the sales illegal?
The legal question differs by jurisdiction. The United States bars Nvidia and its partners from selling advanced chips to China, including through third parties. Reuters reported that the purchases and sales described were not illegal under Chinese law at the time. That does not settle whether a particular transaction violated US export controls: the answer would depend on facts such as the chips’ origin, the parties involved and what each knew or did.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →US export-control violations can carry civil or criminal penalties, including fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars and up to 20 years in prison for individuals. Those are potential penalties under US law, not findings that any named company or buyer committed a violation. Daniel Gerkin, a Washington-based partner at Kirkland & Ellis, told Reuters “it presumably would be challenging for the U.S. government to pursue an enforcement action” if a manufacturer had performed sufficient due diligence.
Do the purchases show Chinese military use?
No. Seven analysts and industry executives told Reuters that chips of this kind could support model training and advanced research. US officials have said advanced chips could also support military applications, including defence modernization and hypersonic-missile development. But the tenders did not specify intended uses, and Reuters did not establish that any named buyer used the chips for military work.
Nvidia said that if it determines a product was later resold in violation of US export-control rules, it will “work with our customers to take appropriate action.” That statement describes the company’s stated response to a determination; it is not evidence that a violation occurred in these cases.
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