China Keeps Making End Runs Around America’s Chip Export Controls: REPORT

A top Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) lab accessed Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips this summer, showcasing the country’s reliance on American hardware despite U.S. export restrictions, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

Moonshot AI, a leading Chinese AI lab, signed a contract in August to rent nearly three dozen servers equipped with Nvidia’s most powerful AI chips, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. Chinese AI labs continue to access top American hardware as Congress looks to tighten Chinese access to these chips.

Documents filed with Chinese regulators said Moonshot rented Super Micro Computer servers through Lingmeixin, or Beijing Technology Co., and the servers are valued at roughly $65 million, or 432 million Chinese Yuan, which could indicate a possible breach of U.S. rules that bar sales to China without a license, the outlet noted. Moonshot disputed the accuracy of the documents viewed by Bloomberg, and the outlet was unable to confirm if the company obtained the license.

Lingmeixin sells products made by DJI, one of the world’s leading makers of consumer and commercial drones, per MIT Review. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Security and Industry (BIS) added DJI to the government’s economic blacklist, or Entity List in 2020, per Reuters.

Lingmeixin did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation comment request.

The documents no longer referenced Moonshot AI after the outlet contacted the company.

“We currently have no business relationship with Lingmeixin. We neither participated in nor authorized the related financing or guarantee arrangements, and had no knowledge of them,” a spokesperson for Moonshot AI told the DCNF in a statement.

“These appear to be the SuperMicro servers from previous cases, already being addressed by the authorities. NVIDIA continues its commitment to working with all relevant authorities to assist them in enforcing applicable laws and policies in cases like these,” an Nvidia spokesperson told the DCNF in a written statement.

“Supermicro does not conduct business with these entities. We maintain a robust compliance program, we are committed to complying with all applicable U.S. export and re-export control laws and regulations, and we require our distributors and resellers to do the same. We also continue to work closely with industry partners to combat the shared challenge of diversion and help protect American innovation,” a spokesperson for Super Micro told the DCNF in a statement.