Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup Moonshot AI has reportedly utilized approximately 20,000 Nvidia chips provided by Alibaba for the development of its high-performance model, 'Kimi K3.'
According to Bloomberg on August 2, multiple anonymous sources confirmed that Moonshot and Alibaba have entered into a contract, with a significant portion of the computational resources used for the Kimi model being supplied by Alibaba.
Bloomberg noted that while China is striving for semiconductor independence, this situation illustrates the country's continued reliance on advanced U.S. semiconductors for AI model development.
Alibaba is one of the major investors in Moonshot. Sources indicated that Alibaba hopes its invested companies will utilize its cloud services.
However, Alibaba is also developing its own AI model, 'Qwon,' creating a competitive dynamic between the two companies. Reports suggest that some Alibaba insiders have expressed disappointment as Kimi, leveraging Alibaba's infrastructure, has outperformed Qwon in several key performance metrics.
The Kimi K3 boasts 28 trillion parameters, making it one of the largest open-weight AI models globally. Open-weight refers to a method where the model's learned weights are made publicly available. Moonshot claims that Kimi K3 has demonstrated performance close to top U.S. AI models, surpassing Qwon in some critical evaluations.
The emergence of Kimi K3 has sparked debates regarding the effectiveness of U.S. semiconductor regulations against China and the efficiency of Western investments in large-scale AI infrastructure.
Michael Kratsios, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), stated that Moonshot has utilized computational resources from Nvidia's Blackwell chips rented through a third party in Thailand for training Kimi K3. Such rental agreements are generally permitted by U.S. authorities.
Sources familiar with Moonshot's procurement strategy confirmed that there is a route for accessing Blackwell through Southeast Asia, but it remains unclear whether this is a legitimate rental or a direct purchase that violates regulations.
The approximately 20,000 chips that Moonshot is using through Alibaba are reported to be from Nvidia's previous generation, the Hopper series. Multiple sources indicated that these chips are the top-tier H200 model, although Alibaba has denied this claim.
An Alibaba spokesperson stated, "There is no basis for the claim that Alibaba supplied H200 chips to Moonshot." However, the company did not deny providing computational resources equivalent to 20,000 Nvidia chips to Moonshot.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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