Chinese AI semiconductor firms, including Huawei and Cambricon, have collectively raised prices for their AI accelerators. Despite surging domestic orders driven by large-scale data center construction in China, production costs have skyrocketed due to difficulties in securing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) amid U.S. export restrictions.
According to Reuters and Bloomberg, Huawei increased the price of its top-tier AI accelerator, the ‘Ascend 950DT’ set for release in the fourth quarter of this year, to over 250,000 Chinese yuan (approximately 50 million Korean won) per unit. The contract price for this chip has risen by approximately 60% over the past three months. The newly set price is comparable to NVIDIA’s B200. Prices for existing models, the 950PR and 910C, have also increased by 20–30%. Cambricon similarly raised the quoted price of its upcoming next-generation AI chip, the ‘Suyuan 690,’ by 20–30% compared to two months ago. Other Chinese AI chipmakers, such as MetaX and Illuvatar CoreX, are reported to have followed suit with similar price hikes.
While the Chinese government’s requirement for state-funded data centers to use domestically produced AI chips has driven orders to Huawei and others, HBM supply has failed to keep pace. DeepSeek plans to deploy at least 160,000 units of Huawei’s top-tier AI accelerators in a large data center under construction in Inner Mongolia. Zhipu AI has also recently begun partial operations of a 1-gigawatt (GW)-class data center using only domestically made AI chips, reportedly operating multiple clusters each comprising over 10,000 chips. The absence of NVIDIA chips, combined with the government’s localization policy, has concentrated demand on Huawei and Cambricon.
However, Chinese firms have struggled to scale production in line with rising orders. This is primarily due to difficulties in securing sufficient HBM, a critical component for AI accelerators. Since the U.S. restricted exports of advanced HBM to China in late 2024, domestic companies have relied on pre-export stockpiles or black-market supplies. A teardown of Huawei’s 910C, for instance, revealed HBM2E from two unidentified companies. With global HBM prices surging and black-market premiums adding to costs, Chinese firms now face both supply shortages and price burdens multiple times higher than normal market rates.
Chinese semiconductor companies are intensifying efforts to develop HBM. Huawei has announced the application of its proprietary HBM technology to the 950PR and 950DT, while Chinese DRAM maker CXMT has also begun HBM development. However, gaps in stable yield rates, mass production capabilities, and advanced packaging technology remain significant compared to industry leaders like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. A semiconductor industry insider noted, “While Chinese firms have reached the stage of developing HBM prototypes, ensuring performance and yield for mass production is a different challenge. The shortage of HBM could become a critical bottleneck in domestic AI chip manufacturing.”
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