Despite US ban Chinese military and government bought Nvidia chips

The military bodies of China, state-run artificial intelligence research institutes and universities have purchased small batches of Nvidia semiconductors over the past year which are banned by the U.S. from export to China, as per news source.

The sales by largely unknown Chinese suppliers highlight the difficulties Washington faces, despite its bans, in completely cutting off China's access to advanced U.S. chips that could fuel breakthroughs in AI and sophisticated computers for its military.

In China, buying or selling high-end U.S. chips is not illegal. The publicly available tender documents also show that many Chinese entities have bought and taken receipt of Nvidia semiconductors since restrictions were imposed.    

The Chinese entities have bought powerful chips like A100 and H100 chips and as well as slow ones like A800 and H800 chips.

The purchasers include elite universities as well as two entities subject to U.S. export restrictions named the Harbin Institute of Technology and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. These entities are accused of involvement in military matters or being affiliated to a military body contrary to U.S. national interest.

The US ban on Nvidia chips in China was aimed at curbing the supply of superior chips to the country as the chips can efficiently process huge amounts of data needed for machine-learning tasks, creating difficulties for the Chinese country which lacks better alternatives.