RTX 5090 cards selling for $5,000 on China's black market as DeepSeek AI models drive demand

DeepSeek AI models increase demand for RTX 5090, prices soar up to $10,000.

: The frenzy for Nvidia RTX 5090 cards in China is primarily fueled by DeepSeek's AI models, making these GPUs cost-effective substitutes for expensive AI accelerators. This demand has caused black market prices to reach $5,000, with eBay listings going up to $10,000. DeepSeek's models, distilled for consumer hardware, appeal to buyers despite Nvidia and AMD's performance controversy. Buying these cards has become as challenging as during the 2020 pandemic/crypto-boom, affecting global market dynamics.

In recent developments, the Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics cards have become a hot commodity, particularly in China, where they are selling for up to $5,000 on the black market. The steep rise in demand stems from DeepSeek's R1 AI models, which are optimized to run on consumer GPUs like the RTX 5090, offering a cost-effective solution compared to high-priced AI accelerators such as the H20. According to The Information, the availability of the RTX 5090 is extremely limited, with skyrocketing demand making it difficult for consumers to obtain even at inflated prices.

Globally, the trend isn't limited to China; the cards are seeing inflated prices on platforms like eBay as well, where they sometimes exceed $10,000, especially from listings originating in China. Even in the US, prices range from $2,500 to $5,000. Buyers now face a similar challenge to finding a GPU as during the crisis periods of the pandemic and the crypto boom of 2020-2021.

DeepSeek has also released distilled versions of its extensive R1 models, such as the Llama 8B, which features 8 billion parameters and recommends hardware with at least 21GB of VRAM. Such adaptability makes these models attractive for consumer-grade devices, further ramping up demand for GPUs like the RTX 5090. Despite this, competition in the GPU market remains fierce, with Nvidia and AMD locked in a rivalry over the performance of their respective cards in running DeepSeek's models.

The spat between Nvidia and AMD reached a notable public discourse when AMD claimed its 7900 XTX bettered the RTX 4090’s performance with AI models. Nvidia countered by releasing its own benchmarks, which show that the RTX 4090 and 5090 outperform AMD's card using llama-bench with Distill Qwen 7B, Llama 8B, and Qwen 32B, solidifying Nvidia’s edge in this technology arms race.

This intense market scenario highlights not only the importance of AI adaptability with consumer-level hardware but also the potential for disruption as gaming-focused GPUs serve dual purposes for AI advancements. The competitive dynamics and technological advances continue to drive the market in unforeseen directions, with major manufacturers and developers keeping a keen watch.

Sources: The Information, TechSpot.

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