Chinese University on US Entity List Bought H200 Chips Despite Export Licensing Requirement
Key Facts
China's Northwestern Polytechnical University bought Nvidia H200 chips, according to a Reuters report on a purchase it said reveals a route for advanced chips to reach an institution on the US Entity List. An official document issued by the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security has listed the university since May 14, 2001. The document requires a license to export, reexport or transfer to the university any item subject to US export regulations. The deal again highlights the gap between regulatory restrictions and the ability of buyers inside China to obtain chips through domestic channels. Reuters said its review of tenders and academic papers showed that H200 chips had reached domestic buyers through the gray market. Meanwhile, Nvidia shares closed at $168.89 on November 10, 2026, according to EL7 data, with no evidence establishing a link between the close and the news.
A Reuters review of more than 100 tenders and academic papers through December 2025 shows that Chinese institutions bought or sought to acquire H200 chips. Those institutions included dozens of universities and research institutes across the country. In August 2025, the Air Force Medical University of the People's Liberation Army in Xi'an issued a tender to buy 8 H200 chips. The stated purpose was to equip a platform for training a large language model to support medical AI research and biological monitoring. The tender provides an earlier example of demand for the chips from institutions linked to military research, alongside the university case covered in the current report. The expanding buyer base reflects reliance on multiple procurement channels for access to advanced computing, according to Reuters reports.
Estimates cited by Reuters on November 5 indicated that about 600,000 advanced Nvidia chips were stored in Hong Kong awaiting shipment to mainland China. People familiar with the matter said Beijing was blocking approval for large-scale imports at the time. In previous months, several major Chinese internet companies had each obtained about 10,000 H200 chips, according to the same report. Smaller quantities also entered China through intermediaries and indirect routes. The picture combines a large inventory still awaiting shipment with shipments that have already reached companies and domestic buyers. This contrast shows that restrictions on large-scale imports do not mean chip access to the Chinese market has stopped through other channels.
The difficulty of obtaining chips is reflected in prices quoted in the Chinese market. Reuters said a server containing 8 H200 cards was offered for more than 6 million yuan in mainland China at the end of October 2026. The price was about 3 times the server's price a year earlier. The price gap points to a high cost of securing computing capacity based on these cards, while the route for large-scale imports remains subject to restrictions and approvals. Reuters had reported that China gave the green light in January 2026 for three of its largest technology companies to buy H200 chips. That decision reflected Beijing's balancing of the AI sector's needs with support for domestic development, while the timing of any broader import approvals remains unspecified in the available facts.