China seeks powerful U.S. AI chips

AI microchips, supposedly protected from being used for military
applications since President Trump allowed their export to China, are
being sought by universities that support the country’s defence industry

UNIVERSITIES TRYING TO ACQUIRE
ADVANCED NVIDIA AI PROCESSORS
Using variety of ways, including trying to buy
them through third-party brokers or seeking
ways to rent chips’ power from afar

MONGOLIA
CHINA

Jilin
University

Beihang
University*

University of
Science and
Technology
China

Xi’an Jiaotong
University

Northwestern
Polytechnical
University*

Guilin University
of Aerospace
Technology

Beijing Institute
of Technology,
Zhuhai*

*Member of Seven Sons of
National Defence – group of
universities with close links to
People’s Liberation Army

Nvidia’s H200 GPU
(above) is extremely
powerful processor

TOTAL PROCESSING
PERFORMANCE (TPP)

H20 2,368
H200 15,824

Previous most powerful
chip approved for sale
from U.S. to China

Unitless index scoring system

Loophole: Chips can
be leased for use from
abroad thus avoiding
importation to China

Sources: Bloomberg, Council on Foreign Relations
Pictures: Getty, Nvidia
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