Where can a Chinese buyer purchase top-end Nvidia AI chips in the wake of U.S. sanctions?
Visiting the famed Huaqiangbei electronics area in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen is a good bet — in particular, the SEG Plaza skyscraper whose first 10 floors are crammed with shops selling everything from camera parts to drones. The chips are not advertised but asking discreetly works.
They don't come cheap. Two vendors there, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they could provide small numbers of A100 artificial intelligence chips made by the U.S. chip designer, pricing them at $20,000 a piece — double the usual price.