Hundreds of Chinese people rushed to buy the high-end graphics cards newly released by the American tech company NVIDIA in Tokyo, Japan last week, causing chaos and disruption to nearby residents. The incident was widely reported by Japanese media and serves as a microcosm of the US ban on Chinese chips.
On January 30th, a promotion event was held at a store called “Akihabara Computer Workshop Parts Hall” in Akihabara, Tokyo, planning to sell NVIDIA’s GeForce series graphics cards, including 10 units of the new flagship RTX 5090 chips through a lottery system.
Despite the store’s announcement not to disturb residents and businesses and to avoid queuing before 3 PM on that day, some customers started waiting outside the store since lunchtime.
Video footage from the scene showed that even before the distribution of lottery tickets began at 3 PM, long queues had formed stretching past nearby elementary schools and nurseries.
During a normally low-traffic time, the unusual occurrence of hundreds of people gathering in Akihabara caused traffic congestion, with vehicles barely able to pass through. Staff members trying to maintain order repeatedly urged people to stop moving forward, leading to dissatisfaction among pedestrians with the chaotic and crowded streets. Some individuals even attempted to climb over the fence of a nursery to cut ahead in line but were stopped.
According to pictures circulated afterward, the signboard outside the nursery had been trampled and broken.
It was reported that the majority of those in line could only speak Chinese. Taizo Hashida, a director of the Unitcom company that owns the chain store, told CNN that around 90% of the people queuing were Chinese-speaking customers.
Although the store had deployed 25 staff members to control the situation, their efforts were unsuccessful. Consequently, they had to change their plans and switch to online lottery arrangements for the first 100 people present.
In a second apology statement issued by the store on February 3rd, they admitted underestimating the situation due to a significant number of inquiries received before the sale and acknowledged flaws in their sales strategy and guidance on that day.
The affected nursery reported no injuries to students or staff. The store has issued apologies to the Chiyoda Ward where the incident took place and to the nursery and has pledged to take full responsibility for compensation.
To prevent similar incidents, other electronics retailers in Akihabara have also changed their sales methods to online reservations or lottery systems.
Japanese media analysis suggested that due to the impact of US export controls, Chinese versions of the same graphics cards offered inferior performance compared to those available in Japan, sparking the buying frenzy. Additionally, for Chinese resellers, the Japanese graphics cards could be sold at prices 4 to 5 times higher.
On January 30th, NVIDIA globally released the RTX 5090. This was one of the latest RTX 50 series graphics cards announced by NVIDIA at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 7th.
Using the Blackwell architecture, the RTX 5090 not only upgrades the graphics card to GDDR7 but also triples the artificial intelligence (AI) computing component to its maximum. This graphics card has been highly sought after by gamers worldwide for its improved visual effects and smoother gaming experience.
However, the series is not released in China due to US restrictions on exporting advanced computing chips, aiming to prevent the Chinese government from accessing AI technology useful for military development.
Gil Luria, the tech research head at investment group D.A. Davidson, informed CNN that the US export restrictions apply to the latest graphics cards as they can be used in developing AI tools.
NVIDIA previously sold the RTX 4090D in China in 2023, but its gaming performance was 5% slower compared to the international version of the RTX 4090.
The RTX 5090’s retail price in the US is $1,999, while in Japan, it is approximately $2,600. The special edition RTX 5090D in China is priced around $2,270.
In addition to demand from Chinese gamers, the limited supply of the RTX 5090 further fueled the buying craze, exacerbating the situation.
According to the Japanese media outlet “Otaku Soken,” there were also many ordinary Japanese consumers present who simply wanted to purchase computer parts. However, each store originally received less than 15 units of the RTX 5090, causing severe market shortages.
It is currently unclear whether Chinese buyers who obtained the RTX 5090 graphics cards can legally carry them out of the country or ship them overseas.
Online, scalpers have been seen selling the RTX 5090 at prices two to three times higher than the recommended retail price, claiming to have guaranteed slots to purchase the card when it was released.
On the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao, some sellers are promoting chips purchased from overseas at prices as high as $5,700.
Some believe that the significant resale profit potential of the RTX 5090 in China has attracted many Chinese scalpers to bulk purchase while traveling to Japan during the Chinese New Year.
On the social media platform Xiaohongshu in China, there are numerous posts seeking or offering tips on purchasing chips from abroad.
One user expressed interest in buying from South Korea and asked about the risks and what to pay attention to. Another user, claiming to be a Chinese student studying in Thailand, mentioned wanting to earn some money to cover tuition fees.
In response to the chaotic event, a Japanese netizen commented, “I can only say that this is sad… Queuing in Akihabara is common, but this situation is rare and regrettable…”
Another netizen added, “The customers’ bad behaviors, the massive number of Chinese lining up due to export restrictions on graphics cards, and the poor management of queuing and sales in the store could potentially lead to restrictions on the export of high-end graphics cards to Japan. This is a serious issue.”
“One shouldn’t buy cutting-edge devices priced at 600,000 yen for gaming purposes, limited by export controls, except for a few people. It would be best to sell them only to companies and government institutions rather than wholesale to the market,” another netizen concluded.