China's 'National Defense Seven' Members Seek NVIDIA H200 Chips, Bloomberg Reports

Two Chinese universities blacklisted by the US — Beihang University and Northwestern Polytechnical University — are attempting to access NVIDIA (NVDA) H200 processors, the most powerful AI chips currently allowed for sale to China, Bloomberg reported on June 2, 2026. Both institutions belong to the "National Defense Seven" group closely tied to the People's Liberation Army and are on the US Commerce Department's Entity List. Beihang's school of cyber science and technology is seeking to rent H200 computing power, while Northwestern Polytechnical's cyberspace security school is pursuing similar leased access for what it describes as critical national-level cyber tasks. NVIDIA dismissed concerns, stating it is "not reasonable" to think China's military would depend on "a couple dozen second-hand GPUs," adding that China has sufficient domestic chips for military use. The findings come as US lawmakers scrutinize the risk of advanced AI chips bolstering Chinese military capabilities. Beijing itself restricts AI firms from purchasing H200s to reduce reliance on foreign semiconductors, yet military-linked entities continue to seek access through third parties and cloud rentals.