Moonshot AI seeks Nvidia chip access in Europe as U.S. curbs tighten

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Moonshot AI seeks Nvidia chips in Europe

Highlights

Moonshot AI pursued leasing deals in 2024 for access to Nvidia Blackwell GPU clusters in European data centers, targeting clusters of 8,000+ chips.
One proposal involves Moonshot paying 30% to 50% higher upfront fees than non-Chinese clients, reflecting both demand and regulatory risk exposure.
Remote U.S. cloud access to restricted AI chips remains possible, but the proposed Remote Access Security Act (RASA), passed by the House in January, could ban it if enacted.

European leasing talks for advanced GPU capacity

As first reported by CNBC, Moonshot AI has sought access this year to Nvidia chips hosted in European data centers through leasing agreements with neocloud providers, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The Beijing-based AI lab is looking to rent capacity tied to Nvidia Blackwell systems, three of the sources said. Those chips are subject to U.S. export controls that effectively bar their shipment to China, but current rules do not broadly prevent remote access through overseas cloud and data center infrastructure.

Two sources said Moonshot is interested in clusters for inference, which means serving models to end users, while one source also said there is awareness of interest in training capacity. Talks have included possible access to clusters of 8,000 or more Blackwell GPUs in Europe, and one source described the company as very aggressive in pursuing additional compute power.

Regulatory pressure and market implications

Nvidia's dominance in advanced AI chips has made its hardware a central point in the technology rivalry between the U.S. and China. American developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic are competing with Chinese model builders including Moonshot, whose Kimi family of models is part of that contest.

In July, the White House said Moonshot had accessed Nvidia Blackwell chips through a facility in Thailand. Moonshot, Nvidia, the White House, the U.S. Department of Commerce, China's embassy in the UK and China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for comment.

Founded in 2023, Moonshot released a new model in July that it said narrowed the gap with leading systems from Anthropic and OpenAI, and the product gained traction as a cheaper alternative to U.S. offerings. One source said a proposal under discussion would have Moonshot pay 30% to 50% more upfront than a non-Chinese customer, reflecting both stronger demand and the risk that Washington could later restrict remote access arrangements.

That regulatory risk remains active in Washington. Lawmakers have proposed the Remote Access Security Act, or RASA, to extend U.S. export controls to cloud-based access to critical hardware and software; the measure passed the House of Representatives in January but has not passed the Senate.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s call for deeper AI safety dialogue with Chinese companies highlighted how AI risk management is becoming a central issue in U.S.-China relations. Our publication noted that officials have discussed setting up a U.S.-China channel for handling serious AI incidents, and Huang also pointed to the UK as a potential neutral venue for international coordination on AI safety.

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