Chinese state-backed lender financed servers packed with restricted Nvidia chips

A Chinese financing company controlled largely by local governments helped bankroll the purchase of Nvidia chips that the US has restricted from export, according to a Bloomberg report. The lender is Semi-Tech Leasing Group Co. The hardware is Nvidia’s Blackwell-series B300, a chip that sits squarely inside the US export-control fence. Following the money to the servers The buyer on the other end of the financing was Glory View Technology Co. Semi-Tech’s funding covered more than 700 servers for the company. At least one of those deals involved a contract for 32 Asustek servers equipped with B300 chips. Those chips fall under US export restrictions. The financing came through sale-and-leaseback arrangements. Glory View raised more than 3 billion yuan, or approximately $450 million, this way to build out its AI infrastructure. Who is behind Semi-Tech Semi-Tech is majority-controlled by municipal governments in Shenzhen and Beijing. The company is also tied to China’s national semiconductor fund. That fund is the state’s main vehicle for pushing domestic chip ambitions. Glory View is far from Semi-Tech’s only bet on compute. The lender has put more than 11 billion yuan, about $1.6 bi...