TLDR
- Moonshot AI is in talks to develop Kimi K4, a larger follow-up to its K3 model
- K3 was trained using Nvidia Blackwell chips, including advanced GB300 versions banned from export to China
- A White House official claims K3 was trained at a data center in Thailand; one source says it was partly trained in China
- Moonshot AI is also accused of distilling Anthropic’s Fable model to help build K3
- The company is considering raising funds at a $50 billion valuation ahead of a public listing
Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI is planning a new, larger model called Kimi K4, according to a report from The Information. The company would need more Nvidia chips to train it — chips that US rules say Chinese firms cannot have.
MOONSHOT SEEKS MORE $NVDA BLACKWELL CHIPS FOR LARGER KIMI K4
The Information reports Moonshot AI is discussing Kimi K4, which would be significantly larger than its 2.8 trillion-parameter Kimi K3, for which they are seeking access to more Nvidia Blackwell GPUs despite U.S.… pic.twitter.com/XA6mQYcy4M
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) July 28, 2026
Moonshot recently released Kimi K3, an open-source AI model with 2.8 trillion parameters. That makes it the largest open-weight model in the world right now.
To train K3, Moonshot used Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, including the advanced GB300 version. Those chips are not allowed to be exported to China under US Department of Commerce rules.
Michael Kratsios, the science advisor to President Donald Trump, said Moonshot trained K3 at a data center in Thailand. Under US rules, Chinese companies may be allowed to access Nvidia chips through servers located in other countries.
However, one source told The Information that K3 was partly trained inside China. Chinese data transfer regulations make it hard to move the large datasets needed for pre-training to servers overseas.
Distillation Allegations
Kratsios also accused Moonshot of distilling Anthropic’s Fable model to help develop K3. Distillation is a method where a smaller or weaker model is trained using outputs from a more powerful one.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration could sanction open-weight Chinese AI models if distillation from American models is confirmed.
Moonshot and Nvidia did not respond to comment requests.
Other Chinese AI companies have also reportedly used Blackwell chips. Alibaba’s Qwen3.8-Max model is among those named in reports.
Demand and Funding
Moonshot recently had to pause new subscriptions to Kimi K3 after demand exceeded its capacity.
The company is now reportedly looking to raise more money before going public. Reports put its potential valuation at $50 billion.
For its K4 model, Moonshot is said to be seeking more Blackwell GPUs. Two sources told The Information the company is actively working toward that goal.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently signed a letter to US Congress backing open AI models, writing that open models “strengthen safety and cybersecurity, accelerate innovation and diffusion, and enable sovereignty.”
The chip restrictions remain in place, but reports suggest Chinese AI firms continue to find ways to access advanced Nvidia hardware.
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