Federal funding tied to U.S. national security ended up supporting research conducted on Chinese supercomputers that had been blacklisted for their links to the People’s Liberation Army, according to recently uncovered reports. These findings are raising red flags over the possibility of technology transfer from American labs to the Chinese military.
Investigators identified over 100 research efforts financed by the Pentagon and Energy Department that involved simulations run on supercomputers in China. These machines are located at centers in cities like Beijing and Guangzhou, which have been sanctioned for enabling nuclear research and hypersonic missile development.
The troubling overlap stems from collaborations between U.S. institutions and Chinese researchers affiliated with the CCP. Though export laws prevent American use of sanctioned systems, those restrictions don’t apply when Chinese partners do the computing — a loophole that experts say has been exploited.
Michigan Rep. John Moolenaar blasted the arrangement as a failure of oversight. He said U.S. researchers must not be allowed to contribute, even indirectly, to China’s military development through research partnerships.
Among the findings, a 2018 research paper on atomic modeling referenced support from a Chinese facility previously sanctioned for contributing to nuclear programs. A separate 2024 study dealing with hydrogen technologies relied on data from two banned Chinese supercomputers and involved joint authorship with personnel at a military-linked Chinese university.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which played a major role in the Manhattan Project, participated in 26 of the identified projects. In one instance, its research on exotic materials was supported by a Chinese supercomputer known for dual-use applications.
Although the labs have denied direct involvement with the banned systems, former Air Force intelligence officer L.J. Eads noted that participation in such projects — even for code verification or scientific interpretation — is enough to put sensitive technology at risk.
The Commerce Department has not said whether it intends to tighten rules to address these indirect relationships. For now, the gaps remain, with U.S.-funded science continuing to interface with China’s sanctioned infrastructure.
