Among the many inconspicuous office buildings in Silicon Valley, one has had an “Inspur” sign hanging outside its door for many years—the name of one of China’s most important technology companies.
But in March 2023, the United States included Inspur Group on the so-called entity list. This is a blacklist of more than 3,000 companies that are considered security risks and are therefore restricted from doing business with the United States.
It didn’t take long for Inspur’s brand name to be replaced by Aivres, the name of Inspur’s newly established American subsidiary. The subsidiary continues the operations of the Chinese parent company, helping it build a thriving global network that provides the computing power needed for China's growing artificial intelligence industry.
The Silicon Valley subsidiary appears to have played a key role in Inspur's ability to circumvent U.S. restrictions by exploiting multiple loopholes in U.S. export laws. Federal officials have begun investigating the subsidiary's operations, four officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The four people said it was unclear how far the investigation had progressed.
The New York Times reviewed thousands of shipping records, company documents and supply contracts to gradually restore the operation of Inspur Network. Reporters also visited locations in China, Southeast Asia and California and interviewed more than a dozen current and former officials, technology executives and industry analysts.
The U.S. government bans the shipment of state-of-the-art chips, such as the Blackwell chips produced by Silicon Valley giant Nvidia, to any company in China. U.S. law also stipulates that companies anywhere in the world are prohibited from purchasing restricted products made with U.S. technology on behalf of blacklisted companies. But there are almost no restrictions on Chinese companies' remote access to data centers in Southeast Asia.
Whether Chinese companies are acquiring cutting-edge technology, especially high-end computing chips produced by Nvidia, has become a hot question in Silicon Valley and Washington. Business executives and government officials worry that China could use artificial intelligence for hacking, surveillance and military operations.
Chinese AI companies are also closing the gap in system performance with U.S. rivals, raising concerns that Chinese companies are using U.S. technology.
According to an analysis of trade records by data company ImportGenius and the New York Times, from April 2024 to February 2026, Aivres exported at least $5.6 billion worth of advanced technology from the United States to Southeast Asia, including computers worth more than $3 billion equipped with Nvidia's most advanced Blackwell chips and related equipment.
Trade records show the technology was shipped to data centers and technology companies in Southeast Asia that provide services to China's largest technology companies, including Alibaba and ByteDance. Megaspeed is also one of these recipients. U.S. officials have been investigating the China-linked company on suspicion of smuggling restricted chips into China. (One of Megaspeed's subsidiaries has financial ties to Alibaba, according to Malaysian business filings.)
Other technology flows from Inspur's global network of subsidiaries to a Malaysian electronics manufacturer that has been shipping unbranded but expensive servers to China, according to trade records mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia. The servers were sent to a new company called Maginfra, which has been supplying high-performance computers to universities and state-owned enterprises in China, according to Chinese contracts and government procurement records.
Inspur, Aivres, Maginfra, Alibaba and ByteDance did not respond to requests for comment. Megaspeed also had no comment. Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo said the company does not support "product diversion," adding that Nvidia sells products to well-known partners who "work with us to ensure that all sales comply with U.S. export controls."
The Trump administration has rolled back Biden-era restrictions on Chinese companies' remote access to data centers in other countries, and the administration and Congress have been working on new rules to replace those restrictions. Nvidia's Rizzo said the business "brings back tens of billions of dollars and good-paying jobs to America."
The administration has also taken a more cautious approach to sanctioning Chinese companies after an attempt to expand the Entity List last year prompted a pushback from China. Within the Commerce Department, which is responsible for enforcing the list, six current and former officials described the department as having lost interest in cases involving China or Nvidia. As of now, no company has been included in the Entity List for 10 months, which is the longest window period in 18 years.
A White House official said the Trump administration has implemented the most stringent export control system in modern history and is committed to safeguarding U.S. national security.
But Jordan Nanos, an analyst at technology research firm SemiAnalysis who has covered Aivres' business, said the company operates in the U.S. using the exact same servers, employees and offices as its parent company, Inspur, and federal officials appear to have done little to stop it.
"Do they want to ban this company, or do they not?" he said.
Different countries, same approach
Most Americans have never heard of Inspur, but the company is one of the world's largest makers of computer servers and has dodged sanctions time and time again.
When the United States blacklisted the wave in 2023, it got a new name in the United States. In China, Inspur has moved to a new address.
The U.S. entity list used to block trade with sanctioned companies applies to specific company names and addresses designated by the government. Just days after being listed, Inspur registered its main operations to another building not far away.
Four months ago, a New York Times reporter traveled to that address in the eastern Chinese city of Jinan. It was a nondescript building with no signage except for a bank on the first floor. A security guard confirmed that Inspur had an office there, but said there were not many staff there. He said Inspur's real headquarters is in an industrial park on the same street.
That campus is very busy. In a large walled area surrounded by rose hedges and rows of motorcycles, tall dark gray buildings stand. Inside the gate, a red sign flashes Chinese leader Xi Jinping's key slogan: "The Chinese Dream."
Inspur, controlled by the Shandong provincial government, started out as a state-owned electronics factory. It developed the world's first pager that could display Chinese characters. More than a decade ago, the Chinese military and state began turning to Inspur's servers to reduce dependence on foreign companies.
That makes the wave a U.S. target. In 2020, the Trump administration included it on the list of Chinese military industrial enterprises. In 2023, the Biden administration said Inspur sought to use U.S. technology to build military supercomputers and added it to the entity list. This means that U.S. companies can no longer ship to it without special permission.
A vulnerability quickly emerged. Companies such as Intel have been selling products to Inspur subsidiaries, not the parent company, and the order does not cover subsidiaries.
Two years later, the second Trump administration closed some of the loopholes, blacklisting some Inspur subsidiaries. But Aivres is not among them.
a compelling connection
