Chinese military has been pursuing Nvidia chips for years, report says

Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, said the Chinese military does not rely on his California-based company's chips. But an analysis of six years of Chinese files shows that the Chinese military has openly sought Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips since 2019.

Chinese records reviewed by Wirescreen, a software platform that provides information on Chinese companies, showed that the People's Liberation Army stepped up efforts to acquire artificial intelligence chips even after the U.S. government restricted semiconductor sales to foreign adversaries, including China.

The records document instances where suppliers agreed to deliver these chips on military terms, but they do not document final delivery. Nonetheless, John Costello, the Wirescreen analyst who wrote the report, said the data showed “directly and irrefutably” that American technology was equipping the Chinese military.

“How many advanced Nvidia chips are in the hands of P.L.A. does the company consider acceptable? » he asked.

The report draws on a broader data set than previously reviewed and shows how China has adapted and attempted to circumvent U.S. technology restrictions in recent years.

Wirescreen reviewed 3,800 procurement files related to chips and high-end computing. It discovered more than 500 cases where various Chinese military units were searching for Nvidia chips, either by name or technical specifications.