NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 RMA in China Becomes a Huge Issue, Full Refunds Offered To Affectees

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4090 witnessed a sales ban in China, but who will be responsible for the RMA requests of existing units? Well, we do have an answer now.

Based on a report by the Chinese media outlet HKEPC, NVIDIA has devised a solution for the RMA requests of its flagship GeForce RTX 4090 GPU after the matter witnessed uncertainty after the US ban.

For those unaware, the Biden administration implemented export restrictions on NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4090 months ago for China to thwart the region's technological developments. However, Team Green does offer its traditional customer service for the restricted GPU, providing a complete RMA mechanism that is a bit different from the traditional one.

NVIDIA's regional representatives have replied to HKEPC in their inquiry message, claiming that the RMA procedure varies for the GeForce RTX 4090 relative to the extent of the issue. If it's a simple problem, such as a fan replacement, the service is performed locally in Hong Kong. Moreover, the process also varies depending upon the manufacturers as well, since if it's a Taiwanese company, the defective units are sent to the country. At the same time, Hong Kong and Chinese variants are dealt with locally.

However, the loophole in this procedure is that if the RMA'ed GPU is sent to Taiwan, and the request becomes invalid, sending it back isn't possible since Taiwan is a US ally and export restrictions apply to the country as well, so manufacturers refund the total cost of the GPU to the affected consumer. This can potentially be exploited by individuals out there, but we haven't seen such an event surface just yet. Moreover, since Chinese markets have confined stock of the GeForce RTX 4090s, refunding consumers an in-stock unit isn't feasible for Team Green.

The export ban of several GPUs, not just the GeForce RTX 4090, has been painful for NVIDIA and board partners dealing in the region since it adds uncertainty & creates further problems, whether in customer services or stock acquisition. NVIDIA did launch an export-compliant GeForce RTX 4090D GPU which comes at the same price as the RTX 4090 FE but prices are higher than MSRP due to increased demand for this chip within the AI segment.