Inside China's underground illegal black market for high-end Nvidia AI chips

erek

erek

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Only in China 🇨🇳…

“The Chinese vendors said they procured the chips primarily in two ways: snatching up excess stock that finds its way to the market after Nvidia ships large quantities to big U.S. firms, or importing through companies locally incorporated in places such as India, Taiwan and Singapore.
This means the quantities they can secure are small, far from what's needed to build a sophisticated AI large language model from scratch.
A model similar to OpenAI's GPT would require more than 30,000 Nvidia A100 cards, according to research firm TrendForce. But a handful can run complex machine-learning tasks and enhance existing AI models.
According to an electronics procurement website that listed some 40 sellers of A100s, most were located in the Huaqiangbei electronics area. But listings for A100s could also be found on Alibaba's (9988.HK) Taobao e-commerce site, on Xiaohongshu which is similar to Instagram, as well as on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Alibaba, Xiaohongshu and Douyin-owner ByteDance did not respond to requests for comment.
Some of the vendors cautioned that fraud had become common with refurbished chips being passed off as A100s.
Nvidia's more advanced H100 chips, only on the market since March, appear much harder to come by.
Vinci Chow, a lecturer in economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong whose department has procured four A100 cards from local vendors for research purposes, said he had been told some packs of eight H100 chips were available for purchase. But only one of the 10 vendors Reuters spoke with said they could procure H100s.
The U.S. is likely not too bothered about small transactions of the chips, said Charlie Chai, a Shanghai-based analyst at 86Research.
"Only if/when China poses a greater threat following significant catch-ups will we see more strict enforcement," he said.
He added the premiums currently commanded by Chinese vendors for A100 and H100 chips could collapse in the future as many of the Chinese AI startups that were driving purchases would eventually withdraw from the market.”


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Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/...d-market-high-end-nvidia-ai-chips-2023-06-19/
 
There is quite a bit to unpack here.
China has banned ChatGPT 3, 3.5, and 4.
Exports of the A100 and H100 are banned but Nvidia has developed the A800 and H800 specifically for China to abide by the export restrictions and is working in partnership with a handful of Chinese companies to develop a model that runs on the 800 series cards that complies with the local laws as well.

So really the ban on the 100 series cards has been tackled by both sides.
 
erek said:
Only in China 🇨🇳…

“The Chinese vendors said they procured the chips primarily in two ways: snatching up excess stock that finds its way to the market after Nvidia ships large quantities to big U.S. firms, or importing through companies locally incorporated in places such as India, Taiwan and Singapore.
This means the quantities they can secure are small, far from what's needed to build a sophisticated AI large language model from scratch.
A model similar to OpenAI's GPT would require more than 30,000 Nvidia A100 cards, according to research firm TrendForce. But a handful can run complex machine-learning tasks and enhance existing AI models.
According to an electronics procurement website that listed some 40 sellers of A100s, most were located in the Huaqiangbei electronics area. But listings for A100s could also be found on Alibaba's (9988.HK) Taobao e-commerce site, on Xiaohongshu which is similar to Instagram, as well as on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Alibaba, Xiaohongshu and Douyin-owner ByteDance did not respond to requests for comment.
Some of the vendors cautioned that fraud had become common with refurbished chips being passed off as A100s.
Nvidia's more advanced H100 chips, only on the market since March, appear much harder to come by.
Vinci Chow, a lecturer in economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong whose department has procured four A100 cards from local vendors for research purposes, said he had been told some packs of eight H100 chips were available for purchase. But only one of the 10 vendors Reuters spoke with said they could procure H100s.
The U.S. is likely not too bothered about small transactions of the chips, said Charlie Chai, a Shanghai-based analyst at 86Research.
"Only if/when China poses a greater threat following significant catch-ups will we see more strict enforcement," he said.
He added the premiums currently commanded by Chinese vendors for A100 and H100 chips could collapse in the future as many of the Chinese AI startups that were driving purchases would eventually withdraw from the market.”


View attachment 578124

Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/...d-market-high-end-nvidia-ai-chips-2023-06-19/
Click to expand...
Additional interpretation,

NVIDIA A100 GPUs in High Demand on Chinese Black Market​

by T0@st Today, 12:04 Discuss (0 Comments)
The top technology companies in China have been ordering a lot of NVIDIA enterprise-grade GPUs, even though US sanctions have prevented the shipment of A100 and H100 models (and AMD's MI250 Instinct) to the nation in recent times. ByteDance - best known for developing TikTok - managed to grab plenty of Ampere enterprise units prior to last Autumn's cutoff period, and has continued to purchase Team Green's H800 GPU, which is a cut-down version of the H100 flagship. Smaller outfits are relying on less direct sources to acquire HBC GPUs—according to a Reuters investigative article, international trade restrictions have created a thriving black market for "top-end Nvidia AI chips."

Their reporters carried out some on-site sleuthing: "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 with Reuters in person 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."
 
Lakados said:
There is quite a bit to unpack here.
China has banned ChatGPT 3, 3.5, and 4.
Exports of the A100 and H100 are banned but Nvidia has developed the A800 and H800 specifically for China to abide by the export restrictions and is working in partnership with a handful of Chinese companies to develop a model that runs on the 800 series cards that complies with the local laws as well.

So really the ban on the 100 series cards has been tackled by both sides.
Click to expand...
How come? Just because OpenAI is an American company or?
 
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