WSJ announced purchases of chips from the United States by China's nuclear weapons developer

Since 2020, the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, which is responsible for the development of nuclear weapons, has been acquiring chips from Intel, Nvidia and other US companies,despite EXPORT restrictions

For the past two years, China's leading nuclear weapons research institute has been actively buying computer chips from the United States , bypassing years of export restrictions, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper studied documents from the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, the country's only organization responsible for the development and production of nuclear weapons. The institution has been on the US black list since 1997. At the same time, it follows from the documents, since 2020 it has been acquiring semiconductors produced by American companies such as Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. 

The chips were purchased from resellers in CHINA. Some were purchased as components for computing systems, others were bought by the institute's laboratory, which deals with computational fluid dynamics (this scientific area deals, among other things, with the simulation of nuclear explosions).

Chip Equipment Suppliers Stopped Working With China Business

The WSJ reviewed scientific papers that the institute has published over the past decade. At least 34 articles dealt with research done using American chips. Nuclear experts interviewed by the publication believe that the findings in seven papers can be useful in maintaining the nuclear arsenal. As of the end of 2021, China's nuclear arsenal consisted of approximately 350 warheads, compared with over 5,000 for RUSSIA and the United States, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics did not respond to the newspaper's request. Nvidia said the PRC Institute uses general-purpose graphics chips used in consumer products such as personal computers in its research. Intel said it is complying with export restrictions and other sanctions , as are its distributors and customers.

In October 2022, the US Department of Commerce introduced new regulations restricting the supply of semiconductors and equipment for their production to China in order to prevent the country from using American technology to develop weapons. After that, the leading chip manufacturing equipment supply companies suspended sales and service to Chinese manufacturers. Among them are American Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA Corporation.

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