Source: Bloomberg (paywall)
Despite U.S. export controls designed to restrict China's defense sector's access to advanced semiconductors, at least seven military-linked Chinese universities are actively seeking H200 chips through procurement channels. This suggests both the urgency of Beijing's AI ambitions and the persistence of gray-market workarounds that undermine Washington's technical containment strategy. The documented procurement trails indicate either confidence in obscuring end-use or a calculation that caught purchases carry acceptable reputational costs relative to capability gains—a sign of how critical next-generation chips have become to China's military modernization.