Two Chinese companies approved to purchase restricted Nvidia H200 graphics processing units operate from empty offices with no known staff, according to an investigation by The New York Times. The findings have triggered scrutiny over whether the U.S. Department of Commerce is adequately vetting applications for advanced semiconductor exports to China.
Empty Offices and Sanctioned Ties
The investigation identified New Matrix and Maginfra as the two entities in question. Reporters visited the listed addresses for both firms and found only vacant office spaces with some furniture. Receptionists at the buildings stated they were unfamiliar with either company. Local workers in the area also reported never having seen anyone enter or exit these specific offices.
Public records reveal deeper connections for New Matrix. The company was founded by Li Bin, who also chairs Tsinghua Unigroup, a technology conglomerate partially owned by the Chinese government. Li Bin owns New H3C Semiconductor Technologies, which is already on the Commerce Department’s Entity List for cooperating with the Chinese military. Additionally, Li Bin and other primary owners of New Matrix are linked to Wise Road, a private equity firm sanctioned by the United States for helping Beijing acquire sensitive chip technologies.
Maginfra appears to be connected to Inspur, a server manufacturer blacklisted by Washington since 2023 for supporting the People’s Liberation Army. The two firms share personnel, patents, and a similar government ownership structure. While these companies are not listed as the final users of the chips, their stated role is to assemble the GPUs into AI servers for unknown customers.
Questions on Export Control Enforcement
The approval of these licenses has drawn criticism from national security experts. Liza Tobin, former China director for the White House National Security Council, told The New York Times she has significant concerns about the lack of due diligence by both the Commerce Department and Nvidia. She questioned whether the licensing process is merely a formality rather than a rigorous check for potential links to Beijing.
While major tech firms like Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and BYD also received licenses, the scrutiny focuses on the lesser-known entities with opaque structures. Another approved firm, Zhejiang Yindun Cloud Technology, has executives related to the founder of Range Intelligent Computing Technology Group. Range has sold computing capacity to Chinese military contractors and reportedly operates out of one of its data centers.
President Donald Trump initially banned the export of Nvidia AI GPUs in April 2025. The policy was reversed late last year following negotiations that included a 25% revenue cut for the United States. However, shipments were delayed for over eight months because Beijing refused to allow Chinese tech companies to purchase the chips during the initial period. Once China lifted its import ban, approximately two dozen firms applied for and received approval to buy the H200 processors.
Source: Tom’s Hardware
