On Nvidia's approved Chinese customer list for H200 chips, one registered address leads to an empty office with nothing but exposed hanging wires
The New York Times investigated a Chinese firm on the approval list: founded 17 months prior, with almost no public digital footprint, its office is a bare gray shell with exposed wiring hanging from the ceiling where light fixtures should have been mounted. The vetting processes of both the US Department of Commerce and Nvidia have since been called into question.
A list of Chinese companies cleared to receive Nvidia's H200 AI chips is now facing widespread scrutiny over how its vetting was performed.
As reported by The Verge, the due diligence carried out by the US Department of Commerce and Nvidia to screen these Chinese firms is under heavy criticism. The New York Times' investigation pinpointed one specific address: New Matrix, a company that appears on the approved list, operates out of a completely empty office space.
The New York Times' on-site account is highly specific: the space is a bare gray shell, with wires hanging down from the ceiling at positions that were supposed to hold light fixtures. The report also notes that the firm was established 17 months ago, with barely any information available online, and the building's internal company directory at its listed address has no valid records for the entity. In other words, based on all publicly accessible traces, there is hardly any proof that it runs a normal, active business.
The core of this issue is not how dilapidated a single office is. The credibility of the entire list vetting system ultimately relies on verifiable details such as physical addresses, on-site staff, and confirmed legitimate business operations. The fact that a company with nothing but an empty office could pass screening indicates that verification steps beyond paper document reviews are extremely insufficient.
The H200 is Nvidia's high-end AI chip. Under the current export control framework, which Chinese companies are allowed to access this class of advanced chips has long been a highly sensitive subject. Now that a clear shell company has been found on the approved list, the Commerce Department and Nvidia need to answer critical questions: what are the explicit approval criteria, who performed the on-site visits, and how often is the full list reviewed and re-audited?
Report source: The Verge, original investigation from The New York Times.
发布时间: 2026-11-07 23:43