It has been reported that Moonshot AI, the Chinese company that developed 'Kimi K3,' used approximately 20,000 NVIDIA chips via Alibaba.

In July 2026, Moonshot AI, a Chinese AI development company, announced 'Kimi K3,' an AI model that achieved scores exceeding GPT-5.6 Sol and Claude Fable 5 in some benchmark tests. Bloomberg reported that Moonshot AI used approximately 20,000 NVIDIA chips via Alibaba, another Chinese company.

Moonshot's Kimi Uses 20,000 Nvidia Chip Cluster From Alibaba - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-31/moonshot-s-kimi-built-on-20-000-nvidia-chip-cluster-from-alibaba

Moonshot has Nvidia chip cluster from Alibaba computing deal, Bloomberg News reports | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/moonshot-has-nvidia-chip-cluster-alibaba-computing-deal-bloomberg-news-reports-2026-07-31/

Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 is a large AI model with 2.8 trillion parameters. It has achieved scores that surpass cutting-edge models such as Claude Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol in some benchmark tests, and is also considered to be cost-effective. Another notable feature is that the model itself is released free of charge as an open model.

China's high-performance AI 'Kimi-K3' is being released as an open model as planned, boasting 2.8 trillion parameters and performance approaching that of Claude Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol - GIGAZINE

The U.S. government and American companies had been concerned that Chinese AI companies were closing the gap with leading American AI companies, but the emergence of Kimi K3 is seen as having further heightened that concern. Furthermore, Michael Kratzios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, has accused Kimi K3 of being made by distilling Claude Fable.

A White House official stated that the high-performance Chinese AI 'Kimi K3' was created by distilling Claude Fable - GIGAZINE

Due to diplomatic friction with the United States, China has limited access to imports of NVIDIA chips and tools necessary for manufacturing its own AI processors. Nevertheless, the development of high-performance AI models like Kimi K3 by Chinese companies raises questions such as 'Is it worth investing so much in AI infrastructure?' and 'Does the US government need to reconsider its approach?'

Amidst this, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with Moonshot AI and Alibaba's business operations, that Moonshot AI has signed an agreement with Alibaba to use approximately 20,000 NVIDIA chips. According to the sources, NVIDIA chips account for a significant portion of the computing resources that Moonshot AI uses for its Kimi series AI models.

According to Bloomberg, U.S. President Donald Trump does not want China to purchase NVIDIA's Blackwell- generation GPUs. However, current regulations allow Chinese companies to enter into rental agreements for computing resources and access these chips. A person familiar with Moonshot AI's procurement strategy confirmed that the company has a route to access the Blackwell architecture via Southeast Asia. However, the person did not specify whether this is mostly through legitimate rental agreements or direct purchases that violate regulations.

On the other hand, sources say that the approximately 20,000 NVIDIA chips that Moonshot AI has access to via Alibaba, as reported, are from the older generation Hopper architecture. According to multiple sources, the contract between Alibaba and Moonshot AI concerns the H200 chip, the most powerful chip in the Hopper accelerator, but an Alibaba spokesperson denied this, stating, 'There is absolutely no basis for the allegation that we supplied H200 chips to Moonshot AI.' However, they did not deny that Alibaba supplied approximately 20,000 NVIDIA chips, suggesting that it may be supplying some kind of NVIDIA chip.

The U.S. government approved the sale of H200 chips to Chinese companies in May 2026, and the Chinese government also allowed a limited number of top domestic AI companies to purchase H200 chips in July. However, according to U.S. government officials, the number of H200 chips actually shipped based on these permits is reported to be 'very small.'

China to approve imports of NVIDIA H200 by domestic AI companies - GIGAZINE