Overview
- Reporting alleges specialized packaging firms in Taiwan, South Korea and Southeast Asia bond top-tier HBM memory onto low-end server processors, label shipments under the processor’s classification, and route them through Hong Kong into mainland China.
- Once inside China, workshops reportedly heat the packages to melt solder, detach the HBM stacks, discard the processors and sell the recovered memory despite high loss rates from the risky extraction process.
- The scheme is driven by steep HBM3E price inflation to roughly $4,000 per chip on the reported black market, which can make the trade profitable even after failed extractions and added logistics costs.
- The coverage traces these claims to investigative reporting in The Information as relayed by other outlets and notes sourcing is limited and not independently verified, leaving enforcement and exact scale uncertain.
- The alleged gap exploits a December 2024 U.S. rule that exempts memory already integrated into logic-chip products and takes place against tight global HBM supply and weak domestic Chinese yields, a combination that increases incentives for illicit imports and pressures suppliers and regulators.