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Nvidia H200 chips cleared for China firm with an empty office, NYT reports

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Nvidia H200 chips cleared for China firm with an empty office, NYT reports

The Verge, citing an investigation by The New York Times, reports that concerns are growing over whether the Commerce Department and Nvidia are doing proper due diligence when vetting Chinese firms cleared to handle Nvidia's H200 AI chips.

The example is New Matrix, which is on the list of approved firms. According to the Times, its offices are empty, described as "a hollow gray shell with wires dangling from the ceiling where lights should be." The paper could find little evidence that the company exists in any meaningful way. Only scant information about New Matrix, which was created 17 months ago, can be found online. At the building New Matrix lists as its address, the 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 is known is worrying. New Matrix's owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm that has been blacklisted by the US government since 2024. The Times also says 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.

The Verge adds background. Nvidia was restricted from selling chips to China during the Biden presidency. The Trump administration relaxed those limits after Nvidia agreed to give the government a 15-percent cut of all sales. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also launched an intense lobbying campaign, and was apparently targeted by China's Ministry of State Security in a spying plot.

Key facts

  • New Matrix, a Chinese firm on the list approved to handle Nvidia's H200 AI chips, has empty offices, per The New York Times as reported by The Verge.
  • The company was created 17 months ago; its listed building has no directory entry for it, and a receptionist and a manager at the industrial park's property management agency had no record of it.
  • New Matrix's owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm that the US government has blacklisted since 2024.
  • The Times says this is a pattern, not a rare lapse: companies linked to entities under national-security-related trade restrictions are being approved to buy Nvidia chips.
  • The Trump administration relaxed Biden-era limits on chip sales to China after Nvidia agreed to give the government a 15-percent cut of all sales.

Why it matters

US limits on AI chip sales to China are a national-security tool, and this report suggests the vetting behind them may be thin. If a firm with an empty office and owners tied to a blacklisted private equity firm can appear on the approved list for H200 chips, the approval process itself comes into question. The Times frames it as a pattern, not a one-off. The background matters too: the Trump administration eased the Biden-era restrictions after Nvidia agreed to hand the government 15 percent of all sales.

Who it affects

Nvidia, whose H200 chips are at the centre of the story, and the Commerce Department, which the concerns name alongside the company as allegedly not doing due diligence. It also affects the Chinese firms on the approved list, New Matrix being the one singled out, and anyone following US export policy toward China. Jensen Huang appears as the CEO who lobbied intensely and was apparently targeted by China's Ministry of State Security in a spying plot.

How to use it

There is nothing to install or buy here. The practical use is as a lens on export-control news: when approved-buyer lists for AI chips are announced, ask who the listed firms are, who owns them and whether they connect to blacklisted entities. The Verge piece gives New Matrix's age (17 months), its empty offices and its ownership ties as concrete checks.

How solid is it

The Verge is relaying the Times investigation, not reporting independently, and the original reporting is what carries the weight. The specifics are concrete and attributed: the empty offices, the missing directory listing, the property agency staff who had no record of the company, and the owners' ties to a firm blacklisted since 2024. The article gives no date for the Times report. It does not name the blacklisted private equity firm. It gives no response or comment from Nvidia, the Commerce Department or New Matrix. The Ministry of State Security detail is hedged with "apparently".

Risks and caveats

The article does not say that New Matrix is a front or that it broke any law; it says only that little evidence of its existence could be found. It does not say how many firms are on the approved list or how many have ties to blacklisted entities, so the scale of the "pattern" is the Times' characterisation. It does not say whether any H200 chips have actually been shipped to New Matrix, or in what volume. It gives no date for the relaxation of the limits or for the 15-percent agreement. Treat the story as a serious allegation about oversight, not as proof of a specific diversion of chips.

“a hollow gray shell with wires dangling from the ceiling where lights should be.”

— The New York Times, describing New Matrix's offices, as quoted by The Verge