The US let Nvidia sell chips to an empty office in China
The US let Nvidia sell chips to an empty office in China
According to The New York Times, New Matrix appears on the list of Chinese companies approved to buy Nvidia H200 AI chips. The company was incorporated only 17 months ago, has no record in the building directory or with property management at its registered address, its office is a shell, and its owner is linked to a Chinese private equity firm blacklisted by the US since 2024.
The case of a shell company getting approval to buy H200 chips exposes due diligence gaps after export approval rules were loosened, helping readers understand how current oversight is working in practice.
The government is approving sales of Nvidia’s AI chips to Chinese firms with ties to blacklisted companies.
The government is approving sales of Nvidia’s AI chips to Chinese firms with ties to blacklisted companies.
by Terrence O'Brien
Nov 7, 2026, 3:43 PM UTC
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Terrence O'Brien
is the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for over 18 years and knows a thing or two about synths.
Concerns are being raised that neither the Commerce Department nor Nvidia are doing their due diligence when it comes to vetting Chinese firms cleared to handle the company’s H200 AI chips. According to The New York Times, New Matrix is on the list of approved firms, yet its offices are empty, “a hollow gray shell with wires dangling from the ceiling where lights should be.” In fact, the paper could find little evidence that the company exists in any meaningful way:
Only scant information can be found online about New Matrix, which was created 17 months ago. At the building that New Matrix lists as its address, a company directory does not include the firm. At the nearby property management agency for the industrial park, a receptionist and a manager both said they had no record of the company.
What little information can be found about New Matrix is concerning. Its owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm that has been blacklisted by the US government since 2024. And according to the Times, this is not a rare lapse in oversight, but a troubling pattern of companies connected to entities with national-security-related trade restrictions being approved to purchase Nvidia chips.
Nvidia had been restricted from selling chips to China during the Biden presidency. But the Trump administration relaxed those limits after Nvidia agreed to give the government a 15-percent cut of all sales. The company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, also launched an intense lobbying campaign and was apparently targeted by China’s Ministry of State Security in a spying plot.
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- Terrence O'Brien
Source: The Verge · AI · theverge.com