At least $1 billion worth of Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence processors were shipped to China in the three months after Donald Trump tightened chip export controls, exposing the limits of Washington’s efforts to restrain Beijing’s high-tech ambitions.

Despite U.S. bans, Chinese buyers spent over $1B on smuggled NVIDIA AI chips like the B200, openly sold on Chinese social apps.

Nvidia's advanced artificial intelligence chips worth at least $1 billion were smuggled to China in the three months after Washington tightened chip export controls, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.