Huawei Hikes AI Chip Price 50% to 250,000 Yuan to Offset Black Market Costs

Chinese semiconductor firms are increasing the cost of high-performance hardware to combat the soaring expense of critical components needed to compete with Nvidia. Huawei raised the price of its Ascend 950DT AI accelerator to 250,000 yuan, a 20% to 50% jump from quotes provided to customers two months ago. Other vendors including MetaX and Iluvatar CoreX have implemented similar increases, while Cambricon reportedly raised its upcoming 690 chip by 20% to 30% despite the company denying any official announcement on Sept. 10.

The price increases follow a shortage of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) that forced manufacturers to rely on black-market channels after US export controls tightened in December 2024. Memory acquired through these unofficial channels typically costs several times more than global market rates. Huawei also increased costs for older models, with the Ascend 950PR rising roughly 30% to more than 80,000 yuan and the 910C board moving to more than 110,000 yuan.