Dr. Techy| Nvidia shares surge fast, and so does its GPU price in China

US chip maker Nvidia’s downgraded A800 GPU has hit retail in China for an extremely high price on the unproven export ban.

The AI-focused chip, which is made for the Chinese market, operates at 70% of the speed of A100 GPUs while complying with U.S.-imposed export restrictions on high technology to the world’s second-largest economy.

Although the restrictions were implemented to limit the capabilities of  Beijing from using the world’s most advanced GPUs, the importance and popularity of AI-powered workloads have grown significantly ever since.

Recently, prices for the A800 GPU have further surged significantly as the chips are rumored to be banned from selling a week ago, said Nvidia’s Chinese chip dealers. The market saw A800 PCIe standard GPU’s price jump to 110,000 RMB (or $15,200) from 90,000 RMB (or $12,400), up roughly 23%, within half a month.

Nvidia has emerged as the protagonist at the center of the AI speculative frenzy. The microchip company soared a breath-taking 190% in 2023 and broke into the exclusive club of companies, like Apple and Microsoft, that have a $1 trillion market cap. $NVDA(NVDA)