BEIJING/SHENZHEN – A thriving underground market for top-end US graphics chips in China has laid bare the technological gap between the two superpowers.
The US, its partners and allies such as Japan and the Netherlands dominate key areas of the semiconductor supply chain, and haveBut checks by The Straits Times found many listings for high-end graphics processing units on Chinese e-commerce platforms ranging from Xiaohongshu to Pinduoduo and JD, although often with inflated prices and dubious warranty status.
Nvidia’s GPUs are widely considered to be industry-leading and are used in laptops, data centres and cars. “We continue to work with our customers in China to satisfy their planned or future purchases with alternative products and may seek licences where replacements aren’t sufficient.”