That's according to an investigation by Reuters.
A review of tender documents showed suppliers continue to deliver the products in China.
That includes Nvidia's powerful H100 semiconductors - whose export to the country has been banned since 2022.
It's unknown how the suppliers are procuring the chips, which are seen as critical to the development of artificial intelligence.
But they have gone to customers including elite universities and research institutes accused of links to the military.
The numbers are far too small to build a model similar to OpenAI's GPT, which would call for tens of thousands of chips.
But experts say a handful could still run some complex tasks and enhance AI models that already exist.
In the wake of the U.S. curbs, an underground market in the chips has sprung up.
Chinese vendors have previously said one way to get the products is to import through companies incorporated in places like India and Taiwan.
Nvidia said it complied with all relevant restrictions, while the U.S. Commerce Department didn't comment on the new report.
But Washington officials have previously vowed to close loopholes in the restrictions.
Analysts say the report illustrates how difficult that will be.
Though it also suggests that China remains dependent on advanced silicon from Nvidia - despite efforts to develop its own.
Before the ban, the firm had about 90% of the Chinese market for AI chips.
