Chinese AI Chipmakers Raise Prices Amid High-Bandwidth Memory Shortage
Chinese artificial intelligence chip manufacturers, including Huawei and Cambricon, have significantly increased the prices of their AI processors due to a shortage of high-bandwidth memory (HBM). The price hikes range from 20% to over 50%, driven by rising HBM costs. This scarcity is partly attributed to U.S. export restrictions on advanced HBM products and growing reliance on grey-market channels, which are more expensive. The shortage has created a bottleneck for Chinese chipmakers who have been filling the gap left in China's $50 billion AI market after access to Nvidia’s most advanced processors was restricted by U.S. regulations. Huawei raised prices for its Ascend 950DT and older models, while Cambricon increased pricing on its next-generation product. Smaller firms like MetaX and Iluvatar CoreX have also adjusted their pricing strategies. The rising costs are expected to increase the overall expense of building AI computing capacity in China. Some companies, such as Iluvatar CoreX, are reallocating resources by increasing GPU shipments for major clients like ByteDance.
Topics: AI chips Cambricon HBM shortage Huawei Nvidia alternatives