Older GPU generations like H100s are experiencing price increases due to three factors: many AI workloads don't require the newest chips, Blackwell capacity is scarce with short lead times causing demand to overflow into older generations, and existing H100 holders are retaining inventory rather than releasing it back to the market.
A research paper examines how open-weight model demand extends the economic viability of older NVIDIA GPU families like the A100, showing they remain cost-competitive for inference workloads compared to newer generations when self-hosted on rental hardware, challenging assumptions that new GPUs render previous ones obsolete.