Chinese AI startup gets access to 2,300 banned Blackwell GPUs by exploiting cloud loophole — rents compute from Indonesian firm with 32 Nvidia GB200 server racks

Even though U.S. President Donald Trump says that Nvidia’s latest Blackwell chips will not be sold to China, Chinese companies still find ways to legally get access to Nvidia’s latest GPUs. According to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, INF Tech, a Shanghai-based startup developing AI for finance and health applications, gained access to 2,300 banned Nvidia AI GPUs operated by a company in Jakarta, Indonesia. This move may seem illegal, especially amid all the rhetoric from Washington, D.C., and Beijing, but lawyers say it is completely legal.

The trail started in California, where Nvidia sells its latest chips to Aivres, one of its partners that builds AI servers. Interestingly, some claim that Aivres is partly owned by Inspur, a Chinese tech company that has since been blacklisted by the U.S. government for working with the Chinese military, although the company does not publicly disclose its ownership structure. But given that it’s a U.S.-based company, it’s not bound by the export restrictions put on foreign corporations as long as it follows U.S. export rules.

Given that Indosat, INF Tech, and even Fudan University aren’t included in the U.S. Entity List, the deal seems to be above board. However, this will definitely raise some eyebrows, especially among those opposed to Chinese companies gaining access to American hardware. After all, they say that even though Chinese companies may not work with the CCP and its military right now, Beijing can compel any corporation — state-owned or otherwise — to cooperate with the state. The Biden administration’s AI Diffusion Rule would have prevented this from happening, but President Trump did not implement it.

On the other hand, Nvidia has been pushing for more lenient export controls, arguing that the U.S. should allow nations to access its hardware to help maintain its lead. When asked for comment, Nvidia said that its compliance team has evaluated and cleared its partners before receiving their shipments. “We support the Trump administration’s vision to secure U.S. AI leadership and create American jobs,” said the company’s spokesperson. “The Biden controls cost taxpayers tens of billions, crippled innovation, and ceded ground to foreign rivals.”

INF told the Wall Street Journal that it does not do any research with military applications and that it complies with U.S. export controls. The publication also reached out to Indosat, asking whether it had been approached by Chinese customers, to which its chief executive, Vikram Sinha, said it works with multinational companies. “Any customer that is outside Indonesia goes through the same regulation, whether it is a U.S. company or a China company,” says Sinha. “If it clears all the regulations, we support it.”

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