Tight Export Restrictions Push Smuggled Chip Prices to Premium Levels
Despite strict export bans imposed by the U.S. government, Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips continue to circulate in China’s underground black market. Due to recent regulatory updates that closed diversion loopholes, prices for smuggled hardware have surged. DGX B300 servers containing eight Blackwell GPUs have doubled in price over the past six months, reaching 8 million yuan (~$1.1 million) on the gray market.
US Regulatory Crackdown and ‘Operation Gatekeeper’ Enforcement
The price surge reflects intensifying enforcement. On May 31, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce tightened rules on Blackwell and Rubin models. This follows the arrest of a Super Micro Computer co-founder in March 2026 for diverting $2.5 billion in servers, and the dismantling of a $160 million smuggling syndicate in late 2025 under “Operation Gatekeeper,” forcing Chinese AI developers to pay extreme premiums for computing power.
