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.

Demand for repairing Nvidia AI chips has surged in China despite U.S. export bans on these products. Around a dozen boutique repair companies in Shenzhen are now servicing Nvidia's H100 and A100 GPUs.