China tech’s GPU dilemma: pay more for black-market H200s, or use slower local AI chips

Chinese AI companies wanting high-performance artificial intelligence chips from Nvidia are facing a dilemma: source them from the black market at much higher prices, or accept lower performance domestic alternatives from the likes of Huawei Technologies. That is because Chinese customs officials are currently holding Nvidia’s H200 chips at the border, despite Washington granting approval for the US company to ship its second most advanced graphics processing unit (GPU) to China, according to...