Report: China Procures U.S. Computer Chips

The state-run China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), one of China’s top nuclear weapons research institutes, has purchased U. S. computer chips despite its placement on a U.S. export blacklist in 1997.

The institute has managed to procure the semiconductors made by companies such as Intel Corporation INTC and Nvidia Corporation NVDA since 2020, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The institute sourced the chips from various resellers in China. In addition, some of the chips were procured to be used for computing systems.

According to the report, the research institute bought the chips to study computational fluid dynamics, including modeling nuclear explosions.

The chips bought by the academy ranged in size from 7 nanometers to 14 nanometers, many of which are not produced in China. Versions of Intel’s Xeon Gold and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX chips which are purchased by CAEP can be bought off Taobao, which is one of China’s largest e-commerce marketplaces.... (Read more)

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