Among the many nondescript office buildings in Silicon Valley, one has for years carried a sign reading "Inspur" — the name of one of China's most important tech companies. But in March 2023, the US placed Inspur Group on its so-called entity list — a blacklist of more than 3,000 companies deemed to pose security risks and therefore restricted in doing business with the US.
Before long, the Inspur sign was replaced with Aivres — the name of Inspur's newly created American subsidiary. The subsidiary kept carrying out the Chinese parent's business, helping build a sprawling global network to supply computing power for China's growing AI industry.
The New York Times pieced together how the Inspur network works by reviewing thousands of shipping records, corporate filings and supply contracts, and interviewing more than a dozen current and former officials, tech executives and industry analysts. According to an analysis of trade records by data firm ImportGenius and the Times, between April 2024 and February 2026, Aivres exported at least $5.6 billion in advanced technology from the US to Southeast Asia — including more than $3 billion in computers powered by Nvidia's most advanced Blackwell chips and related equipment.
US rules ban shipping the most advanced chips — such as Nvidia's Blackwell — to any company in China. US law also prohibits any company anywhere in the world from buying restricted products made with US technology on behalf of blacklisted companies. But there are almost no restrictions on Chinese companies remotely accessing data centers in Southeast Asia.
The trade records show the technology was shipped to data centers and tech companies in Southeast Asia that serve China's biggest tech firms, including Alibaba and ByteDance. Megaspeed is also among the recipients — US officials have been investigating the China-linked company over suspicions it smuggled restricted chips into China. (Business filings in Malaysia show one of Megaspeed's subsidiaries has financial ties to Alibaba.)
Other technology flowed through Inspur's global subsidiary network to a Malaysian electronics maker that has been shipping unbranded but expensive servers into China. Those servers went to a new company called Maginfra, which, according to Chinese contracts and government procurement records, supplies high-performance computers to Chinese universities and state-owned enterprises.
Four officials said federal investigators have opened a probe into the subsidiary's operations, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter. They said it was unclear how far the investigation had progressed. Whether Chinese companies are obtaining cutting-edge technology — especially high-end Nvidia chips — has become a hot issue in Silicon Valley and Washington, where executives and officials worry China could use AI for hacking, surveillance and military operations. Chinese AI firms are also narrowing the performance gap with US rivals, deepening those concerns. Inspur, Aivres, Maginfra, Alibaba and ByteDance did not respond to requests for comment.