Supermicro servers in the hands of Chinese universities with ties to the military

"Four Chinese universities, including Beihang University and the Harbin Institute of Technology, purchased Supermicro servers equipped with banned Nvidia A100 AI chips last year, as shown in public procurement documents."

"Beihang announced that it had purchased a machine learning workstation based on a Supermicro system, equipped with four Nvidia A100 chips, while HIT previously acquired a system with eight A100s."

"Two U.S. senators have called on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to consider freezing all export licenses for advanced Nvidia AI chips and server systems to China and intermediaries in Southeast Asia."

"Three individuals associated with Supermicro are suspected of illegally smuggling at least $2.5 billion worth of AI technology to China, although Supermicro itself has not been named as a suspect."

Four Chinese universities, including Beihang University and the Harbin Institute of Technology, purchased Supermicro servers with banned Nvidia A100 AI chips. These institutions are part of China's military-linked 'Seven Sons of National Defense' and are on the U.S. export blacklist. Beihang announced a machine learning workstation with four A100 chips, while HIT acquired a system with eight A100s for missile and robotics research. This follows a smuggling case involving Supermicro associates suspected of illegally exporting AI technology to China.

Read at Techzine Global