华为要求客户自行解决AI芯片内存，采购被推向黑市
Huawei tells customers to find their own AI chip memory, effectively outsourcing procurement to the black market
据 The Information 报道，华为因无法获得足够内存，要求部分客户自行采购其 AI 芯片所需的内存，实际上把买家推向黑市。华为计划明年初推出 Ascend 960DT，称性能翻倍，但国内供应商 HBM 产能不足，美国出口规则又阻断其直接向三星和 SK 海力士采购，这两家公司合计占全球市场 80% 以上。
Huawei can't get enough memory for its AI chips, pushing customers onto the black market. A sophisticated smuggling network has sprung up to fill the gap, exploiting a loophole in U.S. export rules.
Huawei is telling some customers to source the memory for its AI chips themselves, effectively pushing buyers onto the black market, The Information reports. The company plans to launch the Ascend 960DT early next year, which it says will double the performance of its current chips. But Huawei's Chinese suppliers can't produce enough High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), and U.S. export rules block direct purchases from Samsung and SK Hynix. Together, those two companies control over 80 percent of the global market.
Smugglers have found a workaround. They bundle HBM with cheap server processors whose performance falls below the export threshold, then ship the packages to China through Hong Kong. Once there, workshops separate the memory chips from the processors. The process is fragile and the error rate is high, but the margins make it worth it.
Smuggled memory prices have surged to $4,000 per unit
Prices for smuggled HBM3E memory have jumped from a few hundred dollars to around $4,000 per unit in just one year, according to a broker in Shenzhen. Each AI chip needs six to eight units, meaning the memory alone can cost up to $32,000.
The black market doesn't run on smuggling alone. Older Nvidia GPUs stripped for parts and excess inventory from chip designers who scrapped projects or cut orders also feed the supply. South Korea's customs authority had uncovered trade violations worth $560 million by May, already surpassing the previous full-year record. A third of that total involved strategic goods like chips exported without proper authorization or with false declarations.
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来源：The Decoder · the-decoder.com