How a Blacklisted Chinese Tech Giant Continues to Buy U.S. Chips
Paul Mozur is a global technology reporter for The Times, based in Taipei. He previously reported on the intersection of technology and politics in Asia from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul.
TL;DR
- Inspur Group, a significant Chinese technology company, was placed on the U.S. entity list in March 2023 due to security risks, restricting its business with the U.S.
- A newly formed U.S. subsidiary, Aivres, appears to be facilitating Inspur's access to advanced U.S. technology, particularly high-end Nvidia chips.
- Aivres exported at least $5.6 billion worth of advanced technology from the U.S. to Southeast Asia between April 2024 and February 2026, including computers with advanced Nvidia chips.
- This technology was shipped to data centers and tech companies in Southeast Asia that serve major Chinese tech firms like Alibaba and ByteDance.
- The U.S. government prohibits the export of advanced chips to China and prohibits companies from purchasing restricted products made with U.S. technology on behalf of blacklisted companies.
- Federal officials have begun investigating Aivres's business for potentially circumventing U.S. export laws.
- Chinese artificial intelligence companies are narrowing the gap with U.S. rivals, raising concerns about their use of U.S. technology for potential cyberattacks, surveillance, and military operations.
- Inspur has a history of evading sanctions, including changing its name and address in the U.S. and China after being blacklisted.
- Connections have been identified between Aivres, Inspur, and other entities like Maginfra, which supply high-performance computers to Chinese universities and state-owned enterprises.