Aivres acquires US AI chips despite parent company’s blacklisting

A company operating out of a 270,000-square-foot facility in Fremont, California, has been purchasing Nvidia’s latest AI chips and reselling them abroad, all while its Chinese parent company sits on the US government’s restricted entity list. The company is Aivres Systems Inc., and until May 2023, it went by a more familiar name: Inspur Systems Inc.

The rebranding happened shortly after Inspur Group, one of China’s largest server manufacturers, was added to the US Commerce Department’s Entity List over ties to military-civil fusion programs.

The $100 million deal that raised flags

In November 2025, Aivres completed a transaction that neatly illustrates the problem. The company sold 32 server racks built on Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture, containing roughly 2,300 of the chipmaker’s most advanced GB200 processors, to Indonesian telecom operator Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison. The price tag: approximately $100 million.

Aivres itself has not been individually placed on any US restriction list. The Commerce Department blacklisted Inspur Group, but its American subsidiary continues to operate, collaborate with Nvidia and AMD, and even showcase AI solutions at major industry events like Nvidia’s GTC conference.

In June 2026, Inspur Group was added to the US Department of Defense’s Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies. Aivres, again, was not separately listed.

A competitive edge built on regulatory ambiguity

The arrangement has given Aivres a notable market advantage. The company reportedly offers Nvidia and AMD-based AI server platforms at prices roughly 30% below comparable systems from Western and Taiwanese competitors.

The Fremont facility, where Aivres signed a lease for over 270,000 square feet dedicated to AI infrastructure production, underscores the scale of the operation.

The enforcement gap

The Aivres case exposes a fundamental challenge in how the US government enforces technology export controls. The current framework focuses heavily on named entities: specific companies, specific individuals, specific end users. If a subsidiary rebrands and operates as a legally distinct US entity, it can fall outside the scope of restrictions designed for its parent.

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