South Korea · China · Samsung · Huawei · Tom's Hardware
AI chip smugglers exploit trade control loophole to bring banned HBM from South Korea into China
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 2 sources. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◎ Multiple-sources
A memory smuggler has detailed how he gets export-controlled HBM chips from South Korea into China using a loophole.
Key facts
- Today it’s about $4,000.” With an AI chip requiring six to eight high-end memory chips, that means the broker is raking in $24,000 to $32,000 for every AI GPU
- The team see this with Huawei’s Ascend 950DT, its current top-of-the-line processor that goes for about $37,000, it offers similar pricing to Nvidia’s B200 AI GPU but only delivers half the performance
- A memory smuggler has detailed how he gets export-controlled HBM chips from South Korea into China using a loophole — They are then paired with expensive HBM from Samsung and SK hynix, that, on their own, are banned for export to China
Summary
While the U.S. flip-flops on chip sanctions, China is building its own chip supply market. China's CXMT targets 30% DRAM memory market share by 2030 with sixth mega-fab. It’s not a risk-free operation, though. A Shenzhen-based chip broker has been making big money matching up suppliers such as the smuggler and companies that are desperate for HBM.