A senior White House official accused Chinese startup Moonshot AI of accessing Nvidia’s advanced GB300 chips abroad despite U.S. export controls, as Beijing and Washington vie for AI leadership. The allegation follows Moonshot’s launch of Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter open-source model that it says rivals top U.S. systems. The official, Michael Kratsios, said Moonshot used GB300-equipped servers and remote access in Thailand to train models, and also claimed the firm “distilled” Anthropic’s Fable model—echoing industry concerns over industrial-scale model copying and IP theft. The Biden administration is pushing the Remote Access Security Act to close cloud-based loopholes that let Chinese firms tap restricted compute overseas, while Treasury officials warned sanctions and Entity List designations could follow proven distillation attacks. Nvidia’s most capable chips remain restricted in China, with only limited shipments of certain parts permitted, prompting Chinese companies to seek domestic alternatives. The White House, Nvidia and Moonshot were approached for comment; a U.K.-based PRC spokesperson has previously rejected what it called baseless smears.
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