A booming repair industry has emerged in China to service high-end Nvidia AI chips that are banned under U.S. export rules.
Specialist shops in Shenzhen are now fixing hundreds of Nvidia’s powerful GPUs—like the H100 and A100—each month. These chips, vital for artificial intelligence tasks, were restricted by the U.S. in 2022 to slow China’s tech and military growth.
Despite the ban, many of these GPUs have entered China, likely through smuggling, say industry insiders. Two repair companies confirmed they fix up to 500 chips monthly, charging between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan ($1,400–$2,800), depending on the damage.
Common services include circuit board repairs, memory diagnostics, and software testing. Many chips are wearing out after long hours of training large language models and other AI tools.
Since Nvidia is not allowed to provide support in China, these private firms are filling the gap.
The U.S. government is now increasing pressure on chip tracking. Lawmakers have proposed laws to prevent unauthorized use of American technology abroad.
Reports say Chinese government and military agencies are still using Nvidia chips, keeping demand high.
Though Nvidia now sells a less powerful H20 chip in China, experts say it does not match the performance needed for serious AI development. Smugglers have also begun bringing in Nvidia’s top-tier B200 GPU, with servers costing over 3 million yuan ($418,000).
As tensions rise and rules tighten, China’s underground repair market for AI chips is only expected to grow.
