US-approved Nvidia chip buyer in China has an empty office
Follow-up to Saturday Nov 7: Report: China recruited an exec to spy on Nvidia's CEORemember yesterday's report that China recruited an executive to spy on Nvidia's CEO? Today brings another crack in the AI chip story. The New York Times reports that a company called New Matrix is on the US list of firms approved to handle Nvidia's H200 AI chips. But its offices are empty, "a hollow gray shell", as quoted by The Verge.
This raises concerns that neither the Commerce Department, which approves the firms, nor Nvidia is checking buyers carefully. Our sources do not include answers from either one.
Export rules are only as strong as the checks behind them. Expect questions in Washington when Congress returns.
Powerful AI chips are now treated like strategic goods. If an approved buyer is just an empty room, nobody really knows where the chips end up. It is the same question as with AI labs: rules exist, but who actually checks?
