U.S. approved two China-linked firms to handle Nvidia H200 chips despite questions over offices

The U.S. approved Chinese companies New Matrix and Maginfra to handle Nvidia H200 processors, but visits to their listed offices found little evidence of active businesses there, Tom’s Hardware and The New York Times reported. The approvals have prompted questions about the Commerce Department’s screening of firms cleared to work with the advanced chips, according to The Business Times and The Verge.

New Matrix was established about 17 months ago, according to PhoneWorld and The Business Times. The New York Times investigation, as described by those outlets, found its registered address in an industrial park outside Beijing apparently vacant. The company was absent from the building directory, and staff at the park’s management office said they had no record of it, The Business Times reported. Tom’s Hardware also reported that people in the buildings said they did not know the company or had not seen workers there.

New Matrix’s owners have links to Wise Road, a Chinese private equity fund placed on a U.S. trade blacklist in 2024, according to PhoneWorld, The Business Times and The Verge. Two analysts who reviewed corporate records said the company might be connected to businesses associated with the fund, PhoneWorld reported. The Business Times said New Matrix was approved to assemble Nvidia chips into computers used for AI.

Maginfra was also approved to work with H200 chips, and its listed office appeared abandoned, Tom’s Hardware reported. Analysts cited by Pasquale Pillitteri’s report described Maginfra as an offshoot of Inspur, a Chinese server maker on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List. The same report said the two companies were licensed to assemble the chips into servers for other customers, rather than buying them for their own use.

The Trump administration approved sales of Nvidia’s H200 processors to China in December 2025, reversing some earlier restrictions, PhoneWorld reported. The arrangement requires chips made in Taiwan to pass through the United States before reaching Chinese buyers and allows Washington to collect a 25% tariff, the outlet said. PhoneWorld also reported that around two dozen Chinese companies had approval to purchase or handle H200 processors.