White House: Chinese firm Moonshot AI accessed Nvidia chips despite export ban

A White House official has accused Chinese artificial intelligence company Moonshot AI of acquiring advanced Nvidia chips, despite U.S. export controls designed to prevent such access by Chinese firms. The accusation comes amid escalating technological competition between the United States and China in the AI sector.

Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, stated on Wednesday that Moonshot AI acquired servers equipped with Nvidia's GB300 chips and utilized them in Thailand for training its AI models. Nvidia's most advanced AI chips are subject to U.S. export restrictions to China, although less capable semiconductors are permitted.

The allegations highlight the intense race for AI supremacy between the U.S. and China. U.S. lawmakers are exploring legislative measures, such as the proposed Remote Access Security Act (RASA), to close loopholes in export controls that allow Chinese companies to access critical hardware and software via cloud-based services, even if physically located outside China.

Moonshot AI recently unveiled its Kimi K3 AI model, which reportedly narrows the performance gap with leading models from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. Kratsios also alleged that Moonshot AI used a process called "distillation" to extract information from Anthropic's Fable model for Kimi K3's development.

This incident underscores the strategic importance of advanced semiconductor technology in the global AI race. The U.S. is focused on maintaining its technological edge, while Chinese firms are actively seeking ways to circumvent restrictions and advance their domestic AI capabilities.