[SMM Computing Power Daily] Operator’s H100 Quotation of 100,000 Including Electricity Sparks Controversy, High-End Computing Power Whole-Machine Rental Demand Hard to Match

SMM, July 14 –

Operator Quotes H100 With Electricity at 100,000 Yuan; Buyer Sees Excessive Price Spread

An East China operator quoted in an H100 matching group, requiring equipment to be placed in its own server room, with electricity included at 100,000 yuan/month/unit. Another East China operator, seeking 12 H100 units, found a local price of 78,000 yuan/month/unit, deemed the 100,000 yuan quote "unworkable," and proposed a co-built cluster and profit-sharing income-boosting plan, which was rejected by the supplier. Previously, SMM learned that mainstream H100 market quotation range was 75,000-80,000 yuan/month/unit, with significant price gaps between operators, and regional differences reaching up to 25%.

High-End Computing Power Whole-Machine Leasing Demand Hard to Match; H20/L20 Buyout Discussions Ongoing

A colleague from an internet company referred two client requirements: one needed to buy out one H20 and two L20 units, and the other required leasing 12 high-end computing power whole machines. SMM learned that high-end computing power whole-machine leasing was difficult; this week, the market saw relatively more H100 releases, but high-end computing power spot supply remained extremely tight.

Nonferrous Metals Leader Locks in Long-Term Computing Power Agreement; Digitalization Demand Stabilizes and Firms

SMM learned that the computing power resources required by a leading nonferrous metals company during its digital transformation had been secured through a long-term agreement with suppliers, and overall demand remained stable. Market participants said that computing power demand in traditional industrial sectors was shifting from periodic procurement to a long-term contract locking model, with increased demand certainty, reflecting that the industrial digitalization process had entered a phase of steady advancement.

Liquid-Cooling Stainless Steel Material Mass-Produced and Supplied; Demand Yet to Trigger Capacity Expansion

A raw material supplier for precision instruments disclosed that it had officially supplied server liquid-cooling system-specific stainless steel materials to the market from April to May this year. The supplier said that downstream liquid-cooling demand for servers was currently stable overall and had not yet reached the scale threshold to trigger capacity expansion. Based on feedback from other clients in the server liquid-cooling sector, the current order lead time for this material was about 25 days. Industry insiders believed that the supply of key materials in the liquid-cooling industry chain had entered mass production, but the pace of demand ramp-up still awaited further volume growth in downstream deployment scale.

Domestic GPU Supply Shows "Temperature Gap": Official Abundance vs. Channel Tightness

A government and enterprise department of a domestic AI chip manufacturer recently stated that its computing power GPU servers were in ample supply nationwide. However, several small and medium-sized channel distributors reported that actual procurement of domestic GPU servers was difficult and supply remained tight, with transactions in the GPU server circulation sector still dominated by products equipped with Nvidia GPUs. Market participants pointed out a clear divergence between the official narrative and on-the-ground channel experience, and that domestic computing power capacity allocation might further tilt toward large clients with direct agreements, making it no easier for small and medium buyers to secure supply.

SMM Analysis:Today's news reflected the ongoing deepening of multiple structural contradictions in the computing power market. The H100 quotation gap between operators was as high as 20,000 yuan/month, with regional differences being one price-driving factor; high-end computing power whole-machine leasing demand had almost no matching room in the spot market; the "temperature gap" between official claims of abundance and actual channel tightness for domestic GPUs revealed a structural tendency of capacity allocation tilting toward large clients. The liquid-cooling materials segment had entered mass production but the ramp-up pace lagged, while the nonferrous metals leader locking in long-term agreements showed that traditional industry digitalization demand was shifting from a pulse-like pattern to sustained consistency. Before the overall market stratification and differentiation pattern changed, the mismatch in supply-demand structure would be difficult to fundamentally reverse in the short term.