US Export Controls Bypassed as Chinese Firm Continues Buying Advanced Chips
A New York Times investigation reveals that Inspur Group, a Chinese server maker blacklisted by Washington in 2023, continued to buy Nvidia's most advanced AI chips through its Silicon Valley subsidiary Aivres. Between April 2024 and February 2026, Aivres purchased $5.6 billion worth of technology from the US, including over $3 billion in computers equipped with Nvidia's Blackwell-generation chips.
The investigation found that Inspur used a loophole to bypass export controls by shipping goods through legitimate-looking intermediaries in Southeast Asia before selling them to buyers in China. This raises questions about the effectiveness of Washington's Entity List, which is designed to restrict companies like Inspur from accessing US technology.
Inspect Group built its scale supplying hyperscale data centers, telecom operators, and government agencies inside China, and it expanded into overseas markets well before the 2023 sanctions took effect. Its subsidiary Aivres sits at the heart of the report because it is a functioning, U.S.-based server integrator capable of purchasing Nvidia hardware through ordinary commercial channels available to any American business.