The paper reported that the NSA mainly infected the machines after breaking into networks, but that spies also used "secret technology" to access machines not connected to the internet.
The New York Times said the evidence stemmed from leaked NSA documents and statements from a number of unnamed US officials.
The mysterious "secret technology" has been around 2008, the paper said, reportedly using radio waves to hack the offline machines.
"The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers," read The New York Times' report.
The NSA used the technology to bug an unspecified number of Chinese and Russian military networks, systems used by the Mexican police and drug cartels, trade institutions inside the European Union and organisations and companies in Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.
The documents reportedly showed that the hacked computers can also be used as a platform to launch hostile cyber attacks.
A NSA spokeswoman attempted to justify the campaign to The New York Times, arguing: "NSA's activities are focused and specifically deployed against – and only against – valid foreign intelligence targets in response to intelligence requirements."
At the time of publishing the US Department of Defense (DoD) had not responded to V3's request for comment on the report.
The news is the latest revelation in the ongoing PRISM scandal. News of the NSA's advanced spy campaign broke in 2013 when by ex-CIA analyst Edward Snowden leaked documents to the media proving that the agency is siphoning vast amounts of web user data from firms such as Google, Microsoft and Apple.
The revelation has led to widespread concerns within the business community that the NSA's spying will damage international trade in 2014. The concerns have led US president Barack Obama to consider reducing the NSA's powers.
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