NVIDIA H100 GPUs is experiencing a significant “repricing event.” While a straight “85% off” is not the standard for all units, certain specific segments of the secondary market have seen prices plummet to as low as 20–30% of their historical peak value.
The “85% discount” narrative primarily stems from the comparison between current used prices and the all-time high scarcity pricing of 2024.
The H100 Price Crash: February 2026 Data
The secondary market for H100s has shifted from a supply-constrained “seller’s market” to a surplus-driven “buyer’s market.”
| Metric | Peak (Mid-2024) | Current (Feb 2026) | Total Decline |
| Secondary Market (Used) | $50,000+ | $12,500 – $15,000 | ~70–75% |
| Cloud Rental (per hr) | $8.00 – $10.00 | $2.00 – $2.80 | ~75–80% |
| Refurbished Units | N/A | ~$21,000 | ~50%+ from peak |
The “85%” Source: In extreme cases, 3-year-old units in high-supply regions are clustering at $7,500 – $10,000, which represents an 85% drop from the peak “desperation” prices seen during the height of the AI infrastructure race.
Why are prices collapsing?
- The “Blackwell” Hand-Me-Down Effect: With NVIDIA’s B200 (Blackwell) and Blackwell Ultra chips now shipping in volume, large hyperscalers (Microsoft, Meta, Google) are decommissioning their oldest H100 clusters to make room for the 30x–50x more powerful hardware.
- The “DeepSeek” Efficiency Shift: The recent release of highly optimized open-source models (like DeepSeek-V3) has proven that state-of-the-art AI can be trained on significantly fewer and older GPUs. This has “burst the bubble” for companies that were over-hoarding H100s.
- Reservation Expirations: Many 2-year or 3-year reserved cloud contracts signed in 2023–2024 are expiring this month. Thousands of “used” GPUs are hitting the open market simultaneously as companies refuse to renew at old, high rates.
- Hardware Fatigue: Used H100s—often run at 100% capacity in 24/7 environments—are reaching their “mid-life inflection point.” Buyers now demand massive discounts to account for the risk of thermal fatigue or lack of warranty.
Buyer Warning: Refurbished vs. Used
Market analysts warn that the “deals” aren’t equal across the board.
- Refurbished (Safe): These units hold roughly 80–85% of the current NEW price ($25k range) because they often carry third-party warranties.
- Used (Risky): These are the units seeing the 75–85% crashes. They are frequently “as-is” and come from liquidated AI startups or decommissioned data center racks.
The “India Perspective”
In India, the price for a used H100 PCIe (80GB) has dropped from the 2025 peak of ₹45 Lakhs to approximately ₹10–12 Lakhs in some local secondary channels, mirroring the global trend.
