Nvidia’s $1B AI Chips Cross Silk Road, Land in China’s Data Dungeons

Nvidia’s $1 billion B200 AI chips, built on Blackwell architecture, now ride the clandestine Silk Road, bypassing US export bans and landing in Chinese data dungeons. Trending queries like “How does China get Nvidia chips?” and “Is Nvidia banned in China?” collide with racks of processors, preloaded software, and a back-alley sales pitch: “Psst, wanna buy some innovation?” Ready-made, plug-and-play, and rumored to be routed via Malaysia and Thailand, these chips highlight the comic limitations of Western tech embargoes.
While Shanghai’s server rooms buzz with forbidden Blackwell power, Malaysia and Thailand serve as rumor-shadowed relay points for these AI cargoes. Searchers ask “Why are Nvidia chips so expensive in China?” and “How does black market hardware operate?” Meanwhile, US lawmakers tighten their grip as China’s chip labs unveil ‘new’ processors that sometimes turn out to be creatively disguised Silicon Valley relics. The result: a high-tech bazaar where American AI ambition is shrink-wrapped, re-exported, and stacked on datacenter racks like illegal fireworks.
Most Nvidia B200s now reach China as pre-assembled racks, software ready, making the phrase “fell off a truck” sound suspiciously like a datacenter grand opening invitation.