$1 billion of NVIDIA AI chips were reportedly sold in China despite US bans

Financial Times is reporting that $1 billion worth of NVIDIA AI chips were smuggled into China in the three months after the Trump administration tightened semiconductor export controls. Citing sales contracts, company documents and people with direct knowledge, the publication says that a thriving black market arose for American semiconductors. Products sold included NVIDIA's top‑tier B200 chips, which have become the silicon of choice for American big tech when training AI models. Sale of these chips to China is banned by the United States.

With journalists on the ground in China, Financial Times reports on a veritable web of third‑party data center operators, middlemen and purportedly smuggled ready‑built racks that have all materialized to meet the demand for NVIDIA's most powerful chips. Along with the B200, the H100 and H200 are also restricted yet highly sought after. All of these are far more ...