Huawei tells customers to source AI chip memory themselves

Huawei is telling customers to source high-performance memory for its AI chips themselves, pushing procurement onto the black market. Smugglers exploit a U.S. export loophole by bundling HBM with low-end processors, routing through Hong Kong and separating chips on site. Smuggled HBM3E now costs around $4,000 per unit, up sharply in a year.

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