NYT finds empty offices behind Nvidia H200 licensees

The U.S. Commerce Department approved Chinese companies to handle Nvidia H200 chips even though reporters found their listed offices apparently empty, The New York Times reported on November 7. The findings raise questions about customer screening, but the reported addresses and corporate connections do not, by themselves, establish an export violation.

According to the Times report, New Matrix received approval this year to assemble the chips into AI computers. At its listed address in an industrial park on Beijing’s northwest fringe, reporters found an unfinished, empty office. The building directory did not list New Matrix, and property managers said they had no record of it.

The Times reported that New Matrix’s owners have ties, through corporate records, to Wise Road Capital. Analysts consulted by the paper suggested the company might be a front for associated firms. That is an assessment attributed to those analysts, not an established finding about control or illegal shipments. The Insider also covered the investigation, explicitly attributing the findings to the Times.

Wise Road’s listing is separately documented. A Bureau of Industry and Security rule, effective December 2, 2024, added Wise Road Capital to the Entity List. Commerce cited its involvement in helping China acquire sensitive semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. The rule requires licenses for items subject to U.S. export regulations and applies a presumption of denial.

The Times also revisited Maginfra, whose listed office reporters found apparently deserted in September. Both firms appear to have been approved as assemblers for other customers, rather than ultimate buyers, according to the paper. The visits happened at different times; they are not a simultaneous inspection of the licensees.

Citing people familiar with the approvals, the Times put the total at roughly two dozen Chinese firms cleared to buy or handle H200s. That approximate count describes approvals, not completed deliveries. The distinction matters under the H200 export licensing framework. Our AI chips and memory guide covers the H200, HBM and the export-control context around those shipments. Separately, Nvidia’s guidance has assumed no data-center compute revenue from China, as our Q3 earnings preview notes.

The report describes chips routed through the United States so the government can collect a 25% tariff on their value. Separately, a January 14 White House fact sheet confirms a 25% tariff covering certain advanced chips, including H200s, with exceptions for qualifying U.S. uses. It is not a percentage of Nvidia’s profit.

BIS told the Times it carefully reviews applications for national-security risks. Nvidia said China strictly limits H200 imports and that its limited sales support American jobs and manufacturing. New Matrix and Maginfra did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment. Those responses leave the screening questions open; they do not establish that either licensee breached its license.