While not a household name, Inspur's publicly traded subsidiary had nearly $10 billion in sales in 2021 and Inspur Group is the world's third-largest supplier of the servers used in data centers that power cloud computing, according to data from IDC from the third quarter of 2022, the most recent available.

The United States last week added Inspur to its trade blacklist for allegedly acquiring U.S.-origin items in support of the China's military modernization efforts. The listing means that companies cannot sell Inspur items like semiconductors, which are made with U.S. tools, unless they apply for and get licenses, which are likely to be denied.

Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and other U.S. firms are racing to assess whether they must halt sales to units of China's Inspur Group Ltd after its addition to the list.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Mark Porter)

By Karen Freifeld