Chinese AI lab Moonshot seeks Nvidia Blackwell chips in Europe

Seeking a hardware loophole

Moonshot AI, a prominent Chinese artificial intelligence lab, is reportedly attempting to secure access to Nvidia's Blackwell chips through European data centers. These advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) are currently subject to U.S. export controls that effectively ban their direct import into China. By looking toward Europe, the lab aims to obtain the high-end computing power necessary to train and run its AI models.

The move comes after the White House accused Moonshot of accessing Nvidia's Blackwell chips remotely through a facility in Thailand. Sources told CNBC that the Chinese lab has been in discussions this year to rent capacity from neoclouds—providers that host specialized hardware—at facilities located in the European region. The lab is described as being very aggressive in its pursuit of this specific computing power.

This strategy highlights a significant gap in current U.S. trade policy. While the government can restrict the physical shipment of chips, current laws do not give regulators broad authority to control how companies access those same chips through cloud services hosted in other countries. This allows firms to potentially bypass geographic restrictions by using a third-party provider as an intermediary.

The demand for Blackwell power

Moonshot AI is the developer of the Kimi family of models, which have seen significant global adoption. The company recently released a new model that it claimed closed the gap with leading systems from American rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI. Because the Kimi models are often viewed as a cheaper alternative to U.S. offerings, demand has stretched the lab's existing capacity to the point of pausing new subscriptions.

To meet this demand, Moonshot is looking to lease clusters for inference, which is the process of serving models to end users. However, sources also indicate that the lab is interested in clusters for training, which requires even more massive amounts of computing power. Specifically, talks have involved arrangements to rent access to clusters containing 8,000 or more Blackwell GPUs hosted in Europe.

The high demand for these chips has created a booming leasing industry where customers pay an upfront cost to secure a deal. Because of the political sensitivity surrounding Chinese tech, some neoclouds and financing firms may offer more lucrative upfront terms to Chinese customers. One source suggested that Moonshot might have been proposed to pay 30% to 50% more upfront than a non-Chinese customer to hedge against potential future bans on remote access.

Geopolitics and trade friction

Nvidia currently holds an effective monopoly over the world's most powerful AI chips, making them a primary tool for Washington's efforts to maintain a lead in the AI race. American labs like OpenAI and Anthropic are currently locked in a training and pricing battle with Chinese developers. If Chinese firms like Moonshot gain easier access to Blackwell systems, it could put even more pressure on their American competitors.

The U.S. government has attempted to address these concerns through various channels. For example, the White House noted in August that some sales of the older H200 chips were licensed but remained restricted by the Chinese government. Meanwhile, Chinese developers have shown significant improvements in their model capabilities over the last half-year, fueled by their ability to source high-end hardware through various international routes.

Nvidia has expressed its own perspective on the global infrastructure needs. A company spokesperson stated, "America cannot win the AI race unless America's AI infrastructure wins worldwide." The company has also reportedly told cloud providers selling its chips that they must sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese customers to manage the balance of global demand and trade restrictions.

Legislative and regulatory paths

In response to the use of overseas cloud services to bypass export rules, U.S. lawmakers have proposed the Remote Access Security Act (RASA). This legislation aims to expand current export controls to include the cloud-based access of critical hardware and software. While the House of Representatives passed the bill in January, it has not yet been approved by the Senate.

The goal of RASA would be to close the loophole that allows Chinese firms to rent computing power from European or Asian data centers. If passed, it would give regulators more power to monitor and potentially block the remote use of American-made chips by foreign entities. This would represent a significant shift in how the U.S. manages the export of high-end technology to its primary global rivals.

For now, the situation remains in a state of flux as Moonshot continues to seek out capacity. The lab's ability to secure these European clusters will depend on how neocloud providers navigate the pressure from both the U.S. government and the high-paying Chinese customers. The outcome of these negotiations will likely set a precedent for how other Chinese AI companies attempt to acquire restricted hardware in the future.