[SMM Computing Power Daily] Construction Chaos and Soaring High-End Card Prices: Computing Power Market’s Hot and Cold Overlap

SMM, August 5 –

Computing Power Investment and Construction Shows "Guaranteed Construction" Chaos

SMM learned that chaos in the computing power investment and construction segment has gradually emerged: some enterprises with relatively high registered capital but legal disputes have undertaken data center projects on a "guaranteed construction" basis, aiming for completion within one month. Such entities appear financially robust, but compliance and contract fulfillment risks cannot be overlooked. Project sponsors must verify the progress of their disputes and actual construction capabilities to mitigate schedule and funding risks.

20 Non-Networked RTX 5090 8-GPU Servers Available for Lease in South China

SMM learned that a computing power service provider in South China released 20 units of RTX 5090 8-GPU server rental resources, with a monthly rent quoted at 13,000 yuan per unit. These machines were deployed independently without networking, suitable for lightweight scenarios such as distributed inference or rendering. Non-networked configurations offer high flexibility and low barriers to entry, but lack cluster interconnectivity, limiting their suitability for large-scale training and distributed tasks; lessees need to evaluate based on their specific scenarios.

H100/H200 Quotations Fluctuate at Highs, Long-Term Agreements Become Mainstream

SMM understood that three-year H100 rental quotations including cabinets and electricity had exceeded 75,000 yuan/month; downstream acceptance quotations generally reached 78,000 yuan/month. Meanwhile, a certain operator’s internal budget for long-term leases (1-3 years, with relocation and networking) was approximately 63,000-65,000 yuan/month, and an IDC service provider judged that a three-year budget of 62,000 yuan/month was realistically hard to match, highlighting a clear gap between budget and market prices. H200 quotation range stood at 120,000-135,000 yuan/month, and showed an upward trend this week. High-end card prices remained in an upward channel.

RTX 4090 Residual Stock and Intermediary Quotations Rise Together

SMM understood that a smart computing service provider still had dozens of residual RTX 4090 8-GPU machines on hand; the 1TB memory version’s monthly rent of 7,200 yuan was its floor price, while similar 512GB memory versions on the market had risen to 8,000 yuan/month. University-side cloud platforms quoted 7,000 yuan/month externally, and intermediary quotations ranged from 7,400 to 8,000 yuan/month. Overall, consumer-grade card prices edged up slightly, but downstream acceptance prices from universities were low, narrowing profit margins.

Ascend 910B2 Demand and Relocation with Networking Requirements

SMM learned that demand-side buyers for Ascend 910B2 in the Beijing direction were quite interested in a quote of 15,000 yuan/month, with relocation required. Multiple sources reported that operators preferred machines to be moved into their own equipment rooms with networking: one operator’s H100 long-term lease demand required relocation with networking; another operator opened model access and welcomed machines to be relocated to its equipment rooms, preferably with existing main networks retained to save on external purchases; a subsidiary of a certain corporation could undertake H100 relocation; and a cloud service provider, facing tight resources for scattered university rentals, had completed quotation matching for one A100 server.

SMM Analysis: The investment & construction and leasing sides showed diverging trends. On the investment & construction side, capital packaging coexisted with litigation risks, and the "guaranteed construction" model accelerated implementation while amplifying contract fulfillment uncertainties. On the leasing side, quotations for high-end cards (H100/H200) fluctuated at highs, long-term agreements and relocation with networking became mainstream demands of operators; the consumer-grade RTX 5090 expanded supply in a flexible non-networked form; residual RTX 4090 stock and intermediary quotations rose together, though downstream acceptance prices were low. Overall, the structural stratification of the computing power market continued, with risk management, scenario matching, and verification of resource authenticity becoming common key words for both sides.