Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI gained access to Nvidia's most powerful AI chips inside China this summer, according to documents filed with Beijing regulators and reviewed by Bloomberg News — a deal that raises fresh questions about whether US export controls on advanced semiconductors are being circumvented.
The firm behind the Kimi family of AI models signed a contract in August to rent 32 Super Micro Computer servers equipped with Nvidia B300 graphics processing units, the filings show. The servers were valued at 432 million yuan ($64.8 million) and were located in China, in the western city of Qingyang, one of the country's eight national computing hubs.
US rules forbid the sale of Nvidia's most advanced AI accelerators to China without an explicit export licence. Bloomberg said it could not determine whether a licence had been obtained for the servers.
A $2 million server, at a 350% markup
The filings, submitted to a credit database maintained by the People's Bank of China, valued each server at about 13.5 million yuan ($2 million) — roughly three and a half times the standard US price, a premium that reflects the scarcity of cutting-edge AI hardware inside China.
The paperwork describes a layered arrangement. The servers were owned by Lingmeixin (Beijing) Technology Co., which signed two financing contracts on August 4 and secured a 200 million yuan ($30 million) loan from Beijing Zhongguancun Bank. The loan was backed by the servers themselves and by 345.6 million yuan in earnings from a service contract with Moonshot's main operating entity, Beijing Dark Side of the Moon Technology Co.
Lingmeixin bought the hardware from a subsidiary of Beijing Chunju Technology Co., an e-commerce seller of Maotai liquor, according to the filings. Moonshot was granted rights to use the computing power rather than ownership of the machines.
Moonshot denies the deal — then the paper trail changed
Moonshot disputed the accuracy of the documents. "We currently have no business relationship with Lingmeixin," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "We neither participated in nor authorized the related financing or guarantee arrangements, and had no knowledge of them."
But after Bloomberg contacted Moonshot, Lingmeixin and the bank for comment on November 3, all references to Moonshot disappeared from the public database entries, Bloomberg reported.
Nvidia said the entities involved in the August purchase "are not Nvidia customers" and that it does not provide them with replacement products, service or support. Super Micro said it "does not conduct business with these entities" and is "committed to complying with all applicable US export and re-export control laws and regulations."
A familiar pattern for Beijing's AI labs
The report lands as Washington steps up efforts to keep its most advanced chips out of China. The US has accused Moonshot of training some of China's most cutting-edge frontier models with restricted Blackwell chips, and Bloomberg reported in July that the firm had a channel for accessing the processors. US authorities have also moved to dismantle a smuggling ring alleged to have funnelled billions of dollars' worth of Nvidia hardware into the country.
Renting servers can give Chinese AI firms access to high-end computing power without buying the hardware outright — and, as this case suggests, without the transaction ever crossing a border in a way export controls are designed to catch. Moonshot, whose Kimi K3 model competes with systems from OpenAI and Anthropic, is also reported to be preparing a Hong Kong listing, putting the scrutiny over its hardware supply chain under an even brighter spotlight.
