Chinese tech firms including Huawei, Cambricon, MetaX, and Iluvatar CoreX have raised prices for both current and upcoming AI chips, with some products seeing increases of up to 50%, as reported by Reuters, citing three sources familiar with the situation.
According to these sources, Huawei has set the estimated price for its Ascend 950DT chip above 250,000 yuan (approximately $37,255), which represents a 20% to 50% increase compared to the prices the company quoted to clients two months ago. The exact amount of the increase is contingent upon contract terms.
Cambricon has adjusted the price for its yet-to-be-released processor, tentatively named 690, by 20% to 30% from two months prior, although specific pricing details were not disclosed. MetaX and Iluvatar CoreX have also revised their prices upward.
The companies mentioned did not respond to requests for comments from Reuters.
What’s Driving the Price Increases?
As per the agency's sources, a significant factor behind the price hikes is the global shortage of high-bandwidth memory (HBM). This type of memory is crucial for AI accelerators as it enables rapid data exchange with the processor.
On December 2, 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security imposed new restrictions on the export of certain types of HBM to China, which also includes specific memory produced overseas. Following these restrictions, Chinese manufacturers have increasingly turned to the gray market for supplies, which can cost them several times more than what buyers outside of China pay. Since memory constitutes a large part of the production cost for AI accelerators, any increase in these expenses is reflected in the final product prices.
Previously, Huawei indicated that its Ascend 950 series utilizes proprietary memory technologies: HiBL 1.0 in the 950PR model and HiZQ 2.0 in the 950DT model. However, the company has not disclosed details about the production locations or methods for these components.
Prices for already available Huawei accelerators have also risen. According to two sources from Reuters, the price of the Ascend 950PR increased from around 60,000 yuan at the beginning of the year to over 80,000 yuan, marking an approximate 30% rise. Meanwhile, the price of the Ascend 910C rose from about 90,000 to more than 110,000 yuan during the same timeframe.
The component shortage is impacting not only equipment costs but also the distribution of available capacities. One source noted that in 2026, Iluvatar CoreX doubled its GPU supply to ByteDance to 100,000 units, redirecting some products initially intended for its own use to the client instead.
Huawei remains the largest supplier of AI chips for ByteDance, followed by Cambricon and Iluvatar CoreX, according to the agency’s sources.
It’s worth noting that in June, Huawei committed to annually releasing a new generation of Ascend processors while doubling their performance.