Aivres, a server maker in California, shipped more than $3 billion of computers built around Nvidia’s Blackwell chips to Southeast Asia between April 2024 and February 2026, and much of it reached Chinese customers including ByteDance and Alibaba, according to a New York Times investigation published on 6 September. Its total advanced-technology exports over that period were at least $5.6 billion. Aivres is the renamed United States arm of Inspur, the Chinese server maker Washington added to its Entity List in 2023.
The Times, which reviewed thousands of shipping records and supply contracts, reported that after the listing Inspur renamed the California operation, keeping the same offices and staff. Inspur held about a 33% stake in Aivres in November, below the 50% mark at which a September 2025 affiliates rule would automatically extend the parent’s restrictions to it. Inspur shares fell 3.8% after publication. A House bill aimed at such routing passed 369 to 22 in January and is not law.
Export controls on advanced chips are the main instrument of US policy towards Chinese AI, and this route needed no smuggling, just a rename and a path through Southeast Asia. The 50% ownership line, meant to be a clean test, becomes the number to stay beneath. What happens several steps down the supply chain from a lawful US sale is not the seller’s job to police.
Neither Nvidia nor the Commerce Department has said whether the shipments broke any rule as written. If a minority stake and a change of name are enough to stay compliant, the controls bind paperwork more tightly than hardware. The investigation puts a figure on what has already moved. It does not say what stops the next $5 billion from taking the same route.
