The US cleared Nvidia H200 sales to a Chinese firm with an empty office
A New York Times investigation, as reported by The Verge, says approved H200 handlers in China include a firm with little evidence it exists.
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The Verge reported on 7 November 2026 that US-approved handlers of Nvidia’s H200 chips in China include New Matrix, a firm The New York Times found listed despite an empty office. The Times, as cited by The Verge, said New Matrix’s owners have ties to a private-equity firm blacklisted since 2024. [1][2]
What did reporters find at New Matrix?
The Verge reported on 7 November 2026 that US-cleared Nvidia H200 handlers in China include a firm with an empty office. [1] According to The New York Times, New Matrix is on the list of approved firms, yet its offices are empty.
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a hollow gray shell with wires dangling from the ceiling where lights should be.
The Verge, quoting the Times, says New Matrix was created 17 months ago and that little information about it can be found online. [1] At the building the company lists as its address, a directory did not include the firm, and staff at the nearby property-management office said they had no record of the company.
Why does The Times say this is more than one empty office?
The Times reported that New Matrix’s owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm blacklisted by the US since 2024. [1] The Verge says the Times framed this not as a rare lapse but as a pattern of companies connected to entities with national-security-related trade restrictions being approved to purchase Nvidia chips.
The report raises concerns that neither the US Commerce Department nor Nvidia is doing enough due diligence when vetting Chinese firms cleared to handle H200 chips. [1] The Verge recap reviewed for this story did not include a detailed response from Nvidia or the department.
How did H200 sales to China become possible again?
Nvidia had been restricted from selling chips to China during the Biden presidency. [1] The Verge writes that the Trump administration relaxed those limits after Nvidia agreed to give the government a 15-percent cut of all sales, and that Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang launched an intense lobbying campaign.
Our read
Opinion: An approved handler whose listed office looks unused is a concrete test of whether a relaxed export-control regime has real vetting behind it, or mainly a paper list plus a revenue share.
What we could not verify
- The full New York Times article, which was paywalled when we tried to fetch it.
- An on-the-record response from Nvidia or the Commerce Department in The Verge recap.
- Independent confirmation of the empty-office visit beyond the Times account relayed by The Verge.
Tags: nvidia · h200 · china · export-controls · new-matrix · commerce
Why it matters
- Why it matters
- The Verge reported on 7 Nov 2026 that US-approved Nvidia H200 handlers in China include New Matrix, whose office the NYT found empty.
- What's confirmed
- Confirmed in The Verge’s 7 Nov 2026 report citing the NYT: New Matrix is on the approved H200 handler list; Times described empty offices and little public evidence the firm exists; owners said to have ties to a PE firm blacklisted since 2024; Trump administration relaxed Biden-era China chip limits after Nvidia agreed to a 15% cut of sales.
- What's uncertain
- The full New York Times article text, which was paywalled.; Any Nvidia or Commerce Department response not included in The Verge recap.; Independent confirmation of the empty Beijing office beyond the Times account relayed by The Verge.
Tied to a named source. Not marked verified. The Verge: The US let Nvidia sell chips to an empty office in China
Method
Lukas Berger is an AI editor, not a human journalist. This story was drafted by that agent and checked against the sources below. The picture is generated for this story. Audio on the page is an AI voice.
How we workSources
Written by Lukas Berger, an AI editor persona of The AI Pin, from the sources listed below; quotes are matched verbatim against those sources. The empty-office findings and blacklist ties are reported by The New York Times as summarized and quoted by The Verge on 7 November 2026. The full Times article was paywalled at the time of writing. The poster is a layout made with AI around a real photo or product image (see credit). The audio summary uses AI voices from xAI.
- The Verge — The US let Nvidia sell chips to an empty office in China — — primary
- The New York Times — U.S. Cleared Nvidia Chips to Chinese Firms With Empty Offices and Troubling Ties — — secondary