Listed Chinese University Buys Two H200 Chips for $123,000 Through Local Supplier

Key Facts

China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University bought two H200 chips in October for 874,700 yuan, or $123,000, according to a procurement record dated October 21, Reuters reported. The deal was made through the university’s School of Management, which bought the chips from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology rather than directly from Nvidia. The transaction is significant because the university is on the US Entity List, and permission for some H200 exports to China has not lifted separate restrictions on listed institutions. Procurement records also show the university did not limit itself to buying chips, but obtained computing capacity during the year through rental contracts that included Nvidia processors. Reuters said the records do not show where the processors came from or where the servers were operated.

The university’s contracts include two signed in January, each lasting 7 months, for access to servers containing 8 H200 chips per server. The first contract was valued at 441,700 yuan and the second at 441,000 yuan. The rented capacity was used to train models and for reinforcement learning, according to procurement records cited by Reuters. The university also rented access to servers containing 8 A100 chips and 8 A800 chips; Reuters said exports of both models are banned to all Chinese entities. These arrangements are among 5 contracts to rent computing capacity from Chinese companies identified in the records during the year, covering H200s and other Nvidia processors. They point to two distinct routes for obtaining computing capacity: buying chips through a local supplier and renting servers equipped with processors subject to export restrictions.

A Reuters review of 26 Chinese procurement and company records from this year indicates that other universities and research institutions have bought US-restricted Nvidia chips or rented computing services using them through local suppliers. The review alone does not establish that all cases follow the same mechanism, but it places the university’s purchases within a broader pattern of Chinese institutions accessing this capacity through local companies. Northwestern Polytechnical is a member of the “Seven Sons of National Defense” group and conducts research related to military aircraft, missiles and satellites, Reuters reported. The United States added the university to the Entity List on May 14, 2001. Since September 20, 2016, exports, re-exports or transfers of items subject to US export rules to the university have required a license, according to a document from the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.

Washington tightened restrictions on the university in 2019, making licenses to export controlled US technology to it subject to a presumption of denial in most cases, Reuters reported. In January 2026, President Donald Trump’s administration began allowing some H200 exports to China on a case-by-case basis, but the policy did not remove separate restrictions on entities listed on the Entity List, including the university. US licensing rules issued in January also require safeguards to prevent listed entities and military users from remotely accessing chips exported under the policy. On the Chinese side, Reuters reported on January 13 that Beijing had told some technology companies it would approve H200 purchases only in special circumstances, including university research. Beijing remained cautious about fully reopening its market to Nvidia, Reuters said, making local arrangements central to how the chips reach Chinese institutions.

In the stock market, Nvidia shares closed at $200.13 on November 4, then at $181.6 on November 5 and $186.64 on November 6, before falling to $178.67 on November 9 and $168.89 on November 10, according to EL7 data. The Associated Press reported that the stock fell $7.97, or 4.3%, on Monday, November 9, then extended its decline on Tuesday, ending down about 5.5%. The agency’s report linked the stock’s move to fallout from the company’s investigation into reports about its chief executive, while closing-price data do not establish that news of the university’s purchases caused the stock’s trajectory. In a related political development involving controls and engagement with China, three Republican committee chairmen in Congress requested a briefing with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on November 18 about reported communications with a Chinese national suspected of being an intelligence officer. The briefing is scheduled for that date, according to Reuters.