A tightening crackdown on illicit chip exports is reportedly driving up prices of Nvidia’s AI hardware in China, highlighting persistent demand despite efforts to promote domestic alternatives.
Prices of Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence hardware have climbed sharply in China’s underground market as tighter enforcement of U.S. export restrictions limits supply while demand from Chinese technology companies remains strong, according to a Financial Times report citing chip traders.
Traders told the publication that Nvidia’s DGX B300 AI server, which incorporates eight Blackwell graphics processors, has seen its market value more than double over the past six months. The increase reflects growing difficulty in obtaining restricted AI hardware through unofficial channels.
The report suggests recent crackdowns by U.S. authorities on illicit chip shipments have disrupted supply routes that previously enabled Chinese firms to access restricted products. Investigations in the United States, Taiwan and Malaysia into alleged smuggling networks have reportedly made traders more cautious and raised procurement costs.
Despite Beijing’s efforts to promote domestic AI chips, demand for Nvidia products remains resilient. Chinese companies developing AI applications and services continue to seek access to the U.S. chipmaker’s hardware, which remains widely used for high-performance computing tasks.
The supply shortage has also boosted demand for older Nvidia processors and alternative products that can be adapted for AI workloads. Traders cited in the report said prices of servers equipped with Nvidia’s older-generation A100 chips have risen significantly as buyers look for available alternatives.
Meanwhile, restrictions have reportedly increased the cost of renting AI computing capacity in China. According to the Financial Times, pricing on some Chinese cloud and GPU rental platforms is now comparable to, or even higher than, rates in the United States for systems powered by Nvidia’s latest processors.
Nvidia said building data centers using smuggled products is not a viable long-term solution and noted that it does not provide support or maintenance for restricted hardware obtained through unauthorized channels.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the claims reported by the Financial Times.
