Smugglers bypass export rules to move HBM chips into China via cheap processors
The article describes how a smuggler uses a loophole in export controls to move high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips from South Korea to China. The smuggler owns a chip design firm that pairs low-performing, unsanctioned processors with expensive HBM from Samsung and SK hynix. Since export rules focus only on the processor’s performance—not the attached memory—the HBM slips through restrictions and…
Key points
- Smugglers pair banned HBM chips with low-end processors to bypass export controls
- Technicians manually extract HBM in China, despite a high failure rate
- Broker reports HBM3E price rose from several hundred dollars to about $4,000
Once in China, technicians manually remove the HBM chips from the boards, discarding the rest. Despite a high failure rate, the procedure remains profitable due to the high cost of HBM. A Shenzhen-based broker reports that a single HBM3E unit sold for several hundred dollars a year ago but now fetches about $4,000. With an AI chip requiring six to eight such chips, brokers earn $24,000 to $32,000 per AI GPU. Chinese labs like Huawei face similar shortages, as local manufacturers like CXMT struggle with low yield in HBM3E production. Huawei’s Ascend 950DT costs $37,000 but delivers half the performance of Nvidia’s H100, while its upcoming 960DT aims to match H100 specs. The smuggler warns that tighter enforcement from U.S., South Korean, and other governments could soon shut down these operations.
The story so far
2 episodes →- Smugglers bypass export rules to move HBM chips into China via cheap processorsthis story
AI chip smugglers exploit trade control loophole to bring banned HBM from South Korea into China — expensive memory chips packaged with cheap, unsanctioned processors to become legal exports
Tom's Hardware · 3 November 2026
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This text was published by Tom's Hardware and written by Jowi Morales. It is reproduced here with attribution so you can read it in full; the rights remain with the publisher. Read it at the source ↗
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