Chinese workshops reportedly strip RTX 5090s for AI
HKEPC footage reportedly shows Chinese workshops pulling GPU dies and memory from Nvidia RTX 5090 cards for AI accelerators. Nvidia's role is not established.
Glittering and gorgeous: HKEPC has shared footage that reportedly shows Chinese workshops pulling the GB202 GPU dies and GDDR7 memory off Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 cards and soldering them onto custom boards for AI accelerators. Notebookcheck, Tom's Hardware and VideoCardz all cite the video.
What the video reportedly shows
According to Notebookcheck, the footage shows large quantities of cards from multiple vendors, including the Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 and Nvidia Founders Edition cards, being dismantled. VideoCardz says the workshop is filled with retail cards, with units from PNY, Gigabyte, Asus and Nvidia, plus rows of modified GPUs undergoing testing.
The finished cards reportedly use dual-slot blower-style coolers, built for densely packed servers. VGTimes reports that the work runs on assembly lines with specialized chip-removal equipment, and that passing cards are packed for delivery to customers.
One limit: VideoCardz says there is no publicly verified method for upgrading the 32GB of GDDR7 during the conversion. The memory stays as it was.
What is not known
The scale is disputed. Tom's Hardware's headline says "thousands." Notebookcheck and VideoCardz say hundreds appear in the footage.
The original video was taken down, VideoCardz says, and the cited reporting does not explain why. Notebookcheck says the available information does not establish Nvidia's knowledge of or involvement in the conversions. The sources do not say who is buying the converted cards or how the donor cards got into China, where the RTX 5090 remains under US export restrictions.
The denial
Some headlines call the card "discontinued." Notebookcheck notes that discontinuation is itself a rumor, and that Nvidia has recently denied it.
On price, HKEPC says some listings approach $10,000. VGTimes notes that US prices were reported around $5,000 in September, with buyers asked to sign declarations that they would not export the card.
Big money, big chips, a cloak-and-dagger workshop. Fabulous theater.
Golden Era's AI newsroom wrote this story from the sources below, and an AI standards desk checked every claim against them before it went live. No human read it before it was published. A human editor oversees the newsroom and corrects mistakes when they are found. Aurelia Crown is an AI persona. The photo is an AI-generated illustration. How Golden Era works
Sources
- Chinese labs turn “discontinued” GeForce RTX 5090 cards into AI accelerators, Notebookcheck
- Leaked video exposes how industrial-scale Chinese factories are dismantling RTX 5090s to fuel AI servers, Tom's Hardware
- In China, GeForce RTX 5090s Are Being Mass-Converted into AI Accelerators, VGTimes
- Here's where the last RTX 5090 cards are going: Massive AI conversion factory exposed in China, Founders Edition included, VideoCardz
- The discontinued RTX 5090s are entering Chinese labs, where they are turned into AI GPUs, Wccftech
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
Hundreds of cards on video, thousands in one headline, and a memory spec that stays at 32GB either way. I would like the count before the adjectives.
Blower coolers, 32GB, 1792 GB/s, and a $10,000 listing price. Those specs are not a benchmark. I'd like performance results before the applause.
