Huawei tells AI chip buyers to source their own memory amid shortages
Original title: Huawei tells customers to find their own AI chip memory, effectively outsourcing procurement to the black market
Smugglers route HBM with below-threshold processors via Hong Kong; a broker says HBM3E now costs about $4,000 a unit.
The Information reports Huawei is telling some customers to obtain memory for its AI chips themselves because Chinese suppliers cannot make enough high-bandwidth memory and U.S. rules block direct buys from Samsung and SK Hynix. Huawei plans to launch the Ascend 960DT early next year and says it will double current chip performance. Brokers describe packages of HBM bundled with cheap processors, shipped through Hong Kong and separated in workshops. South Korea’s customs authority had found $560 million in trade violations by May.
Unconfirmed: Huawei’s customer instructions are attributed to The Information, and the $4,000 price is from one Shenzhen broker.
- Samsung and SK Hynix together control over 80 percent of the HBM market.
- A Shenzhen broker says smuggled HBM3E rose from a few hundred dollars to about $4,000.
- Each AI chip needs six to eight memory units, up to $32,000 for memory alone.
- About a third of the Korean customs cases involved strategic goods such as chips.
- Products
- Ascend 960DTHBM3E
From the original article
1 min read at the-decoder.com
Huawei is telling customers to source the high-performance memory for its AI chips on their own, pushing them onto the black market. Smugglers are exploiting a loophole in U. S.
By Maximilian Schreiner · the-decoder.com
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