Moonshot AI gained access to Nvidia’s top chips despite US ban, Bloomberg reports
Written by AI
Moonshot AI, the developer of the Kimi model, agreed in August to rent 32 servers, Bloomberg reported. The servers contain Nvidia’s most advanced chips, which the United States has barred from sale to China.
Bloomberg reported the news on Tuesday 10 November, citing documents filed with Beijing regulators. Hong Kong’s The Standard summarised Bloomberg’s report the same day.
Moonshot AI is a Chinese AI lab that develops the Kimi AI model. In August the company signed contracts to rent 32 Super Micro Computer servers, Bloomberg reported. The servers are equipped with Nvidia’s most advanced AI processors, B300 GPUs. A GPU is a processor, originally designed for graphics, that is used to train and run AI models.
The contracts are worth a total of 432 million yuan. Bloomberg said the contracts suggest each server is valued at 13.5 million yuan, roughly 350 per cent more than is usually paid in the US.
The US has blocked sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China since 2022. Chinese AI companies have circumvented the restrictions by renting servers outside China, especially in Southeast Asia, such as in Malaysia, The Standard reported.
The Standard’s article does not say where the servers Moonshot AI rented are located or who rented them out. Nor does it say whether the contracts breached export controls.
The US Department of Justice has previously investigated Super Micro Computer. Three of the company’s employees were accused of illegally selling chips to China.