NVIDIA's advanced AI chips, banned from export to China under US sanctions, have more than doubled in price on China's black market over six months—with DGX B300 servers now selling for over $1.1 million（約1.8億円） compared to $400,000 in the US. The price surge reflects US enforcement tightening illegal supply channels while Chinese demand for the technology remains intense, forcing local AI startups and tech firms to pay a severe premium on grey and black markets to access the computing power they need.
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NVIDIA's DGX B300 servers, which contain eight Blackwell GPUs and are banned from export to China under US controls, have more than doubled in price on China's black market over the past six months. The price climbed to over 8 million yuan (roughly $1.1 million（約1.8億円）) from 4 million yuan six months ago, according to the Financial Times. The RTX 6000 Pro workstation chip also surged from around 50,000 yuan at the start of 2026 to as much as 130,000 yuan.
Why it matters
US enforcement actions have progressively choked off illegal channels through which these chips were flowing into China, creating an extreme supply shortage. Chinese tech companies and AI startups, many of which are locked out of legal purchasing channels, rely on grey and black market routes to access the computing power needed to develop and train AI models. The price spike reflects basic supply constraints, not diminished demand—Chinese demand for these chips has intensified despite the restrictions.
What to watch
For context, the DGX B300 retails in the US for around $400,000, meaning black-market prices in China now exceed the official US price by roughly 2.75 times. This gap underscores the desperation among Chinese AI developers to secure hardware for model development.
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