Large shipments of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs have resurfaced in China, indicating that the country has managed to circumvent export restrictions.
NVIDIA's RTX 5090 in Large Quantities Was Allegedly Spotted in China, Likely Going Towards AI Workloads
Banned hardware flowing into China has been a topic of discussion for several months, primarily since the US has been implementing export restrictions to counter such efforts. However, according to previous reports, the issue persists. Now, based on a post over at the PCMR Reddit, it is claimed that a large GPU shipment consisting of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090s was spotted in China, and upon further inspection, the SKUs are from MSI and Gigabyte. It's important to note that the boxes don't mention the "v2" label, which is permitted to export to China.
Redditors are arguing in the thread that these GPUs aren't banned in China, but the US manufacturers cannot export them directly to the region. However, one of the ways the nation has managed to access banned hardware is by sourcing it through countries that aren't in the scope of export restrictions, with primary spots being Malaysia, Singapore, and other nations within the SEA. Chinese AI companies have also leveraged the 'rental compute' loophole to access their own compute power, so there are several ways domestic companies have used to access cutting-edge hardware.
In the case of gaming GPUs, the majority of the SKUs above would likely be used for AI workloads as well, given that the high VRAM on the RTX 5090 is well-suited for this application. China is reportedly repackaging consumer GPUs for AI workloads by increasing the VRAM count and modifying them into a blower-style design. Like all gamers around the world, it is becoming increasingily difficult for consumers in the region to access GPUs, mainly since the AI frenzy has managed to gobble up all high-end GPUs.
NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 is already experiencing heavy shortages, with prices expected to rise to as much as $5,000 in the future, and it is disappointing to say that for PC gamers, gaining access to units has become impossible in today's market.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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