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Despite U.S. export controls aimed at preventing Chinese companies from acquiring advanced AI chips, small cloud service providers in China have reportedly found ways to obtain NVIDIA’s A100 and H100 chips. The cost of renting cloud services in China is even lower than in the U.S.
According to a report from the Financial Times, four small-scale Chinese cloud providers are offering servers equipped with eight A100 chips each, charging around USD 6 per hour. In comparison, similar services from U.S. cloud providers cost approximately USD 10 per hour.
As Chinese companies are reportedly bypassing U.S. export controls, industry sources cited by the Financial Times have further noted that the lower prices in China may hint at a robust local supply of NVIDIA chips.
Since the fall of 2022, the U.S. has banned NVIDIA from supplying A100 chips to China, and the more powerful H100 chips have not been approved for sale there.
However, industry sources and startups have revealed that these chips are still available in China. Ads for A100 and H100 have appeared on social media platforms like Xiaohongshu and e-commerce sites such as Taobao, with prices higher than those abroad.
At the Huaqiangbei electronics market in Shenzhen, reportedly, industry sources have revealed that the price of NVIDIA’s H100 is quoted at USD 23,000 to USD 30,000, while Chinese online sellers list it at USD 31,000 to USD 33,000.
Meanwhile, larger Chinese cloud providers such as Alibaba and ByteDance emphasize service stability and security in the local market. For servers equipped with A100 chips, they charge two to four times more than smaller cloud providers.
According to another source cited by Financial Times, large companies must consider regulatory compliance, which puts them at a disadvantage because they are reluctant to use smuggled chips. In contrast, smaller providers are less concerned.
The same report also indicate that after the US government tightened export controls in October last year, servers from Supermicro equipped with eight H100 chips were priced as high as approximately CNY 3.2 million. However, as supply constraints eased, the price has dropped to around CNY 2.5 million.
Several sources cited by the report claim that merchants from Malaysia, Japan, and Indonesia frequently ship Supermicro servers or NVIDIA chips to Hong Kong, from where they are then transported to Shenzhen.
In response to these issues, NVIDIA reportedly stated that it primarily sells chips to well-known partners, ensuring that all sales comply with U.S. export regulations.
NVIDIA also mentioned that its used products can be obtained through various channels and, although they cannot track products after sale, they will take appropriate action if they determine a customer is violating U.S. export controls.
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