China AI Chip: Prices Rise as HBM Supply Shortage Deepens
China’s AI Chipmakers Raise Prices
Chinese artificial intelligence chipmakers are raising prices for their processors as a shortage of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) increases production costs.
Reuters reported that companies including Huawei and Cambricon have raised prices for current or upcoming AI chips. Smaller Chinese chipmakers MetaX and Iluvatar CoreX have also reportedly increased prices.
Huawei’s New AI Chip Gets More Expensive
Huawei has reportedly raised the indicated price of its upcoming Ascend 950DT accelerator card to more than 250,000 yuan ($37,255).
According to people familiar with the pricing cited by Reuters, the new price is about 20% to 50% higher than quotes given to customers around two months earlier, depending on the contract.
Huawei has not publicly confirmed the reported selling price.
However, Huawei has confirmed that the Ascend 950DT is planned for release in the fourth quarter of 2026. The company says the chip will use its proprietary HiZQ 2.0 memory technology, with 144GB of memory and 4TB/s of memory bandwidth.
Cambricon Also Raises Prices
Beijing-based Cambricon has reportedly increased the indicated price of its next-generation chip, known as the 690, by around 20% to 30%.
Reuters said the 690 has not yet been formally launched. Cambricon's current flagship product is the 590.
Other Chinese AI chip companies, including MetaX and Iluvatar CoreX, are also facing higher costs and have reportedly raised prices.
Why HBM Is Important
HBM is a specialised type of memory that allows AI processors to move large amounts of data at very high speeds. It is an important component in advanced AI computing systems.
Demand for HBM has increased rapidly because of the global growth of AI data centres. The US government has also introduced export controls covering certain HBM products linked to advanced computing.
The US Commerce Department said in December 2024 that HBM is critical for large-scale AI training and inference and introduced new controls covering certain HBM products.
China Faces Higher Memory Costs
Reuters reported that Chinese chipmakers are increasingly looking for HBM through alternative supply channels because of restrictions on advanced memory exports to China.
According to sources cited by Reuters, some memory obtained through these channels can cost significantly more than normal market prices. This adds to the cost of producing Chinese AI processors.
The impact is also being seen in older Huawei products. Reuters reported price increases for the Ascend 950PR and Ascend 910C, although these figures are based on industry sources rather than official Huawei price lists.
What It Means for China’s AI Industry
The higher costs come as China is trying to build stronger domestic alternatives to leading US AI-chip suppliers.
The HBM shortage therefore creates another challenge for Chinese chipmakers. They must increase AI computing capacity while dealing with expensive memory and restrictions on access to some advanced foreign technologies.
For now, the reported prices for several Chinese AI chips should be treated as industry-source figures, while Huawei's Ascend 950DT launch timetable and technical specifications are officially confirmed by the company.