First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
Friday, November 13, 2026
A Reuters review of more than 150 Chinese procurement notices, investment plans, construction contracts and company disclosures has identified artificial-intelligence computing projects worth more than 23 billion yuan — about $3.2 billion — built around or planned for Nvidia processors that the United States restricts from sale to China.
The projects stretch from China's wealthy coastal technology hubs to remote western provinces, and they show how deeply Nvidia's technology remains embedded in China's AI expansion even as Washington seeks to curb Beijing's access to the technology powering the global artificial-intelligence boom. Some of the facilities are already operating or under construction, while others now face delays, supply disruptions or costly redesigns around domestic chips as export controls tighten.
Among the projects Reuters identified: a proposed 6.2 billion yuan ($873 million) AI computing centre in Xianyou county, in coastal Fujian province, which is seeking commercial partners and specifies Nvidia H100 chips for a facility intended to support large-scale AI development; a 3 billion yuan computing centre in northwestern Shaanxi province, where state-owned engineering group Sinomach said a subsidiary won a contract and which specifies Nvidia H100 and H200 processors; a 2.26 billion yuan project in northeastern Jilin province, described in an April government prospectus, combining Nvidia H100 processors with Chinese-developed chips; a 1.5 billion yuan development in Inner Mongolia proposing to install 625 Nvidia H200 servers; and a 1.16 billion yuan construction contract awarded in July in northwestern Gansu province for a computing centre that plans to install about 3,072 Nvidia processors, according to tender documents specifying H100 and H200 hardware.
The $3.2 billion figure is the value of the wider projects and the infrastructure around them — buildings, power systems and other facilities — and not a tally of spending on Nvidia chips alone. It covers planned investments and signed contracts as well as completed installations, and Reuters said the documents it reviewed do not establish how the restricted hardware reached Chinese users, or prove that any specific institution or company violated U.S. export-control law.
Washington began restricting Nvidia's advanced AI processors in 2022 and has since tightened controls on modified chips developed for China, including the H800. In January, the Trump administration moved to review export licences for the H200 for eligible Chinese customers individually, subject to conditions. Nvidia said in an August filing that U.S. export controls had effectively shut it out of China's AI data-centre market, and the company has excluded China data-centre computing revenue from its forecasts, citing regulatory uncertainty. But an IDC report cited by Reuters in October estimated that Nvidia still accounted for 34 per cent of Chinese AI-accelerator shipments in the first half of 2026.
The findings come a day after Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang resigned as chief executive on Thursday, November 12, amid a scandal over his relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman U.S. authorities suspect of intelligence ties to Beijing. The Chinese projects identified by Reuters have not been linked to Megaspeed, the Singapore-based Nvidia cloud partner where Alice Huang was a former executive, or to the allegations involving Huang, and there has been no public finding that Huang violated export-control laws. Nvidia's board has launched an independent investigation and has said it had no reason to believe company secrets or U.S. national security were compromised. Huang, a vocal advocate of easing export restrictions, said last year that Nvidia's market share in China had fallen from 95 per cent to zero. Chief financial officer Colette Kress has been named interim chief executive, and President Donald Trump has suggested former Apple chief Tim Cook as Huang's successor.
Washington argues that restricting access to advanced chips is necessary to protect national security and to prevent sensitive technology from strengthening China's military capabilities. Beijing, however, maintains that the restrictions undermine fair competition and its right to develop its AI industry, and China's foreign ministry said on Friday that Beijing has consistently opposed what it called the abuse of export control measures, warning that tighter rules would threaten the stability of global industry and supply chains. China's commerce ministry and Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
Sunny Cheung, an analyst at the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, told Reuters the findings reinforced his view on enforcement.