[SMM Computing Power News] H100 short-term rental budget rises to 90,000, H200 available as alternative

SMM has learned that there is demand in the market for three-month short-term rentals of H100s. In early September, the lessee's budget reached 100,000 yuan per unit per month, but no matching resources were found, and the deal did not go through. This budget is 15,000 yuan higher than the upper end of the mainstream H100 quotations of 75,000–85,000 yuan, a premium of about 18%, and also exceeds the level "approaching 90,000 yuan" in the Beijing-surrounding region of North China. SMM believes this is the first sample in this round of data collection where a high-priced budget failed to be fulfilled. In the previous two instances, demand budgets were higher than supply quotations, indicating that the constraint on transactions is resource availability rather than price.

SMM learned that four H100 units became available in east China, with the resources to be released on the 27th of this month, and the annual long-term rental was quoted at 87,000 yuan per unit per month; another nine units of supply were yet to be confirmed. This price exceeded the upper end of the mainstream H100 quotations of 75,000–85,000 yuan by 2,000 yuan, or about 3%, and was also higher than the final transaction price of 85,000 yuan for the last batch cleared in the region in early September. SMM believes that the long-term contract price in east China stood above 87,000 yuan for the first time, forming a relay upward move with spot clearing prices, with the pace of supply release remaining the main driver.

SMM learned that a smart technology channel distributor in South China stated on September 19-20 that its Guangzhou warehouse currently has about 400 units of H200 2T PCIe complete machines in spot cargo, with a minimum sale of 64 units per batch, and prices to be negotiated based on the buyer's budget. The H200 2T PCIe is mainly targeted at large-model training and inference scenarios. A large spot order has emerged, but the seller has not disclosed a price, indicating that the high-end computing power supply side is still dominated by tentative pricing. Against the backdrop of H200 spot cargo remaining tight, the 400-unit large order being offered at negotiable prices reflects that the seller still holds the initiative in pricing, and the buyer's budget will become a key variable in closing the deal.