Cnbc: Moonshot AI Looks to Lease Nvidia Blackwell GPUs in Europe

Moonshot AI, a Chinese artificial‑intelligence lab, is in talks to lease Nvidia's cutting‑edge Blackwell GPUs from European data‑center operators after U.S. export rules blocked direct shipments. The negotiations, reported by cnbc, involve renting large clusters of GPUs to support both inference and training workloads.

cnbc coverage of Moonshot AI’s European chip lease talks

Sources familiar with the discussions say Moonshot aims to secure access to at least 8,000 Blackwell GPUs hosted in Europe. The lab is described as "very aggressive" in its pursuit of additional compute, reflecting the intense competition between Chinese developers and American AI firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

Chinese AI lab Moonshot seeks Nvidia Blackwell access

Moonshot’s interest centers on the Blackwell series, Nvidia's most powerful graphics processing units, which are currently subject to export bans that prevent their direct import into China. By leasing capacity from non‑Chinese cloud providers, Moonshot can bypass the ban while still leveraging the hardware for its Kimi family of models.

U.S. export controls and the cloud loophole

U.S. regulations restrict the shipment of advanced chips to China, but they do not yet cover remote usage via overseas cloud services. This gap allows companies like Moonshot to access the technology indirectly, a point highlighted by the White House after it disclosed the lab’s earlier remote access through a Thai facility.

Asian data centers become a new frontier

European data centers, often operated by "neocloud" providers that can purchase Nvidia GPUs, are emerging as strategic venues for Chinese AI firms. Leasing arrangements typically involve an upfront payment representing a percentage of the contract’s lifetime value, with Chinese customers sometimes paying 30%–50% more than non‑Chinese counterparts.

Potential U.S. legislative response

Congress is evaluating the Remote Access Security Act (RASA), which would extend export controls to include cloud‑based access to critical AI hardware. The bill cleared the House in January but remains pending in the Senate.

While Nvidia has signaled that the United States must dominate AI infrastructure worldwide, it also noted that older H200 chips have been licensed for limited sales to China under strict conditions.

Moonshot’s strategy reflects a broader trend: Asian data‑center operators are increasingly positioning themselves as intermediaries that can supply Chinese AI developers with high‑performance compute while navigating geopolitical restrictions.

Sources: CNBC, The Wire China, Unite.AI.