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I recommend everyone to watch GamersNexus' documentary on the NVIDIA AI GPU black market. They explain how companies like DeepSeek can get a hold of chips that

I recommend everyone to watch GamersNexus' documentary on the NVIDIA AI GPU black market. They explain how companies like DeepSeek can get a hold of chips that are otherwise banned by the US government to export to China https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3xQaf7BFI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3xQaf7BFI

embedding-shape 10mo ago
Yeah, or just jump unto Alibaba and Ebay from any neighboring country to China and see for yourself how easy it would be to buy a GPU then transport yourself ~500m and now be within China with these GPUs.
- whimsicalism 10mo ago
  I think you are overestimating the ease of getting hopper/blackwell from alibaba or ebay.
  - embedding-shape 10mo ago
    Yeah? Tried Ebay Singpore as a first try, seems like there is plenty of stuff: https://www.ebay.com.sg/sch/i.html?_nkw=gpu+blackwell https://www.ebay.com.sg/sch/i.html?_nkw=gpu+blackwell Edit: just for fun (and actual neighbor of China), tried Ebay India too, seems not-impossible: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=blackwell+gpu&_sacat=0&_from=R40 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=blackwell+gpu&_sacat=0&...
    - sofixa 10mo ago
      > and actual neighbor of China), tried Ebay India too Eh, you'd have to cross the Himalayas and go through what is kind of a military zone. Kazakhstan and Vietnam are more suitable candidates, but neither has actually good infrastructure connectivity to China.
the_pwner224 10mo ago
I was just selling my RTX 4090 on Ebay recently and got a ton of bids from Chinese accounts. The winner ($2,325) had Australia set as the country on their profile, but a Chinese name on the account, and the order shipping address was to a different Chinese name (to a regular single-family house in Delaware). Most bidders straight up had China as their profile country. So my 4090 (24 GB) is probably going to get turned into a 48/96 GB VRAM frankenstein in a Chinese chop shop. I haven't watched the full 3.5 hour documentary you linked but from the first few minutes, it seems quite interesting. And covers this exact thing. Edit: Again, I checked the address, it was a house, not a freight forwarder warehouse. And if it was actually going to AU, the forwarder would be on the west coast in CA/WA, not east coast (had another order go to Thailand with a forwarder in SF. And Miami is the big hub for South America). For legit freight forwarding they also wouldn't have different names on the account & shipping address. As the parent comment's YT video describes, these are often just normal Chinese-Americans or international students who do this to make a bit of extra money.
- BigTTYGothGF 10mo ago
  People with Chinese names do sometimes live in Delaware.
  - Tostino 10mo ago
    With their profile in Australia?
    - yardstick 10mo ago
      While this is likely what the op was suggesting, I would like to point out that in Australia and NZ, it can be a massive pain to find someone who will ship internationally. Normally this is for things like Amazon US, and other US-based companies. There are services[1][2] that advertise virtual postal addresses in your purchase-country where they’ll box and ship it to you. So yes, a Chinese name based in Australia with a shipping address in the US isn’t immediately a red flag. Lots of Chinese in Australia and NZ, and lots of people here like to use shipping services like this. 1. https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/you-shop https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/you-shop 2. https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/online-shopping/buying-online/articles/shopmate-and-us-freight-forwarding-services https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/online-shopping/buying-on... (Scroll to bottom)
brendoelfrendo 10mo ago
One of the keys being, of course, that the Chinese government doesn't care. Yeah it might require mules bringing the GPUs into China but once they're in China, no one is breaking any laws. Of course DeepSeek is using these GPUs! It's not illegal for them to do so!
- zapataband2 10mo ago
  [dead]
- whatsupdog 10mo ago
  Chinese government recently banned Chinese companies from buying Nvidia chips.
  - berdario 10mo ago
    Yup, the change was in the news in September https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/china-blocks-sale-of-nvidia-ai-chips/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/china-blocks-sal...
    - hedora 10mo ago
      That’s not a ban of nvidia chips though. It’s for a few of the biggest companies, and is specifically telling them not to buy a made-for-china SKU: > The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) told companies, including ByteDance and Alibaba, this week to end their testing and orders of the RTX Pro 6000D, Nvidia’s tailor-made product for the country, according to three people with knowledge of the matter
- lenerdenator 10mo ago
  The US government doesn't really care either. We have someone in the comments section talking about how they encountered a bunch of suspicious bidders on their GPU auction. That's not what happens when people care about being potentially investigated for breaking export rules.
zapataband2 10mo ago
[dead]
hinkley 10mo ago
Where does nvidia manufacture those chips?
- vel0city 10mo ago
  The Republic of a China, not the People's Republic of China. You might not legally be able to identify the difference in your jurisdiction.
  - hinkley 10mo ago
    Right. I am a TSMC shareholder. I know this story.

embedding-shape 10mo ago

Yeah, or just jump unto Alibaba and Ebay from any neighboring country to China and see for yourself how easy it would be to buy a GPU then transport yourself ~500m and now be within China with these GPUs.

whimsicalism 10mo ago
I think you are overestimating the ease of getting hopper/blackwell from alibaba or ebay.
- embedding-shape 10mo ago
  Yeah? Tried Ebay Singpore as a first try, seems like there is plenty of stuff: https://www.ebay.com.sg/sch/i.html?_nkw=gpu+blackwell https://www.ebay.com.sg/sch/i.html?_nkw=gpu+blackwell Edit: just for fun (and actual neighbor of China), tried Ebay India too, seems not-impossible: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=blackwell+gpu&_sacat=0&_from=R40 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=blackwell+gpu&_sacat=0&...
  - sofixa 10mo ago
    > and actual neighbor of China), tried Ebay India too Eh, you'd have to cross the Himalayas and go through what is kind of a military zone. Kazakhstan and Vietnam are more suitable candidates, but neither has actually good infrastructure connectivity to China.

the_pwner224 10mo ago

I was just selling my RTX 4090 on Ebay recently and got a ton of bids from Chinese accounts. The winner ($2,325) had Australia set as the country on their profile, but a Chinese name on the account, and the order shipping address was to a different Chinese name (to a regular single-family house in Delaware). Most bidders straight up had China as their profile country. So my 4090 (24 GB) is probably going to get turned into a 48/96 GB VRAM frankenstein in a Chinese chop shop. I haven't watched the full 3.5 hour documentary you linked but from the first few minutes, it seems quite interesting. And covers this exact thing. Edit: Again, I checked the address, it was a house, not a freight forwarder warehouse. And if it was actually going to AU, the forwarder would be on the west coast in CA/WA, not east coast (had another order go to Thailand with a forwarder in SF. And Miami is the big hub for South America). For legit freight forwarding they also wouldn't have different names on the account & shipping address. As the parent comment's YT video describes, these are often just normal Chinese-Americans or international students who do this to make a bit of extra money.

BigTTYGothGF 10mo ago
People with Chinese names do sometimes live in Delaware.
- Tostino 10mo ago
  With their profile in Australia?
  - yardstick 10mo ago
    While this is likely what the op was suggesting, I would like to point out that in Australia and NZ, it can be a massive pain to find someone who will ship internationally. Normally this is for things like Amazon US, and other US-based companies. There are services[1][2] that advertise virtual postal addresses in your purchase-country where they’ll box and ship it to you. So yes, a Chinese name based in Australia with a shipping address in the US isn’t immediately a red flag. Lots of Chinese in Australia and NZ, and lots of people here like to use shipping services like this. 1. https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/you-shop https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/you-shop 2. https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/online-shopping/buying-online/articles/shopmate-and-us-freight-forwarding-services https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/online-shopping/buying-on... (Scroll to bottom)

brendoelfrendo 10mo ago

One of the keys being, of course, that the Chinese government doesn't care. Yeah it might require mules bringing the GPUs into China but once they're in China, no one is breaking any laws. Of course DeepSeek is using these GPUs! It's not illegal for them to do so!

zapataband2 10mo ago
[dead]
whatsupdog 10mo ago
Chinese government recently banned Chinese companies from buying Nvidia chips.
- berdario 10mo ago
  Yup, the change was in the news in September https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/china-blocks-sale-of-nvidia-ai-chips/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/china-blocks-sal...
  - hedora 10mo ago
    That’s not a ban of nvidia chips though. It’s for a few of the biggest companies, and is specifically telling them not to buy a made-for-china SKU: > The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) told companies, including ByteDance and Alibaba, this week to end their testing and orders of the RTX Pro 6000D, Nvidia’s tailor-made product for the country, according to three people with knowledge of the matter
lenerdenator 10mo ago
The US government doesn't really care either. We have someone in the comments section talking about how they encountered a bunch of suspicious bidders on their GPU auction. That's not what happens when people care about being potentially investigated for breaking export rules.

zapataband2 10mo ago

[dead]

hinkley 10mo ago

Where does nvidia manufacture those chips?

vel0city 10mo ago
The Republic of a China, not the People's Republic of China. You might not legally be able to identify the difference in your jurisdiction.
- hinkley 10mo ago
  Right. I am a TSMC shareholder. I know this story.