The Trump administration approved Nvidia chip sales to Chinese firms without adequate vetting, according to reporting from The New York Times. New Matrix, a company on the approved purchaser list for Nvidia's H200 AI chips, operates from an empty office described as "a hollow gray shell with wires dangling from the ceiling where lights should be." The Times found scant online information about New Matrix, created 17 months ago. Neither the building's company directory nor the nearby industrial park's property management agency had records of the firm.
New Matrix's owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm blacklisted by the US government since 2024. The Times reported this represents a pattern rather than an isolated oversight, with multiple companies connected to entities facing national-security trade restrictions approved to purchase Nvidia chips.
Nvidia had faced restrictions on China sales during the Biden presidency. The Trump administration relaxed those limits after Nvidia agreed to give the government a 15-percent cut of all sales. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang conducted an intense lobbying campaign and was reportedly targeted by China's Ministry of State Security in a spying plot.