Demand in China has begun surging for a business that, in theory, shouldn't exist: the repair of advanced Nvidia artificial intelligence chipsets that the U.S. has banned the export of to its trade and tech rival.

Despite U.S. bans, Chinese buyers spent over $1B on smuggled NVIDIA AI chips like the B200, openly sold on Chinese social apps.

Financial Times is reporting that $1 billion worth of NVIDIA AI chips were smuggled into China in the three months after the Trump administration tightened semiconductor export controls. Citing sales contracts,