Moonshot AI, the Chinese lab behind the Kimi models, has sought access to Nvidia’s Blackwell chips through data centres in Europe, CNBC reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Deals have been discussed this year for Moonshot to rent capacity from neoclouds hosting Nvidia graphics processing units at facilities in Europe, four people said, according to CNBC.
One source said it had been proposed that Moonshot pay 30% to 50% more upfront than a non-Chinese offtaker would, CNBC reported. That is 1.3 to 1.5 times the upfront payment for the same contract, by our arithmetic.
Business Pill · GPUs
A one-minute explainer of what GPUs are and why AI training depends on them. It teaches the general idea only and does not discuss Moonshot, Nvidia’s China sales or Europe.
The key insight: Moonshot AI has sought access to Nvidia Blackwell chips through data centres in Europe, with deals discussed this year to rent capacity from neoclouds, CNBC reported, citing four people familiar; one source said a 30% to 50% higher upfront payment than a non-Chinese offtaker’s had been proposed, 1.3 to 1.5 times by our arithmetic.
Moonshot was looking to lease capacity powered by Nvidia’s Blackwell systems, three of the sources told CNBC. Those chips are subject to US export controls that, CNBC wrote, “effectively ban their import into China”.
Moonshot was interested in leasing clusters in Europe for inference, which CNBC describes as serving models to end users, two of the sources said. One source said they were also aware of interest in clusters for training.
Talks for arrangements that would see Moonshot rent access to clusters of 8,000 or more Blackwell GPUs hosted in the region have taken place, one source said, according to CNBC. That source described the lab as “very aggressive” in its pursuit of more computing power. A cluster of 8,000 GPUs is about 1.3% of the roughly 600,000 Nvidia chips that Reuters reported are stored in Hong Kong awaiting shipment to mainland China, by our arithmetic (600,000 Nvidia AI Chips Said to Await China OK in Hong Kong).
In July, the White House said the Chinese AI lab had accessed Nvidia’s Blackwell chips via a facility in Thailand, CNBC noted. One source told CNBC that the talks on securing compute in Europe had taken place since then.
Cluster size discussed for Moonshot in Europe (8,000 or more Blackwell GPUs, one source, per CNBC) set against the roughly 600,000 Nvidia chips Reuters reported are held in Hong Kong. 1.5 times is the top of the 30%-50% higher upfront payment that one source told CNBC had been proposed; our arithmetic.
CNBC posted its exclusive at 13:40 UTC on 5 November 2026: Moonshot turned to Europe for Nvidia Blackwell access amid US-China curbs, citing sources. This piece is based on CNBC’s full article.
MOONSHOT SEEKS $NVDA BLACKWELL ACCESS IN EUROPE
Chinese AI lab Moonshot, the developer of Kimi, has held talks to rent clusters of 8,000+ Nvidia Blackwell GPUs from European ๐ช๐บ neoclouds, primarily for inference and potentially training, CNBC reports.
The White House previously accused Moonshot of accessing Blackwell chips remotely through a data center in Thailand.
U.S. export controls restrict shipments of these chips to China, but don’t broadly prohibit Chinese companies from renting the same computing power through overseas cloud providers.
One proposed arrangement reportedly involved Moonshot paying 30%-50% more upfront than non-Chinese customers, reflecting the risk of future restrictions.
Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) summarised CNBC’s report at 13:41 UTC: talks for Moonshot to rent clusters of 8,000 or more Nvidia Blackwell GPUs from European neoclouds, mainly for inference and potentially training; the White House’s earlier accusation over a data centre in Thailand; and a proposed arrangement with 30% to 50% more paid upfront than non-Chinese customers. The post says no completed deal has been confirmed, which matches this piece. Its phrase ‘reflecting the risk of future restrictions’ is the poster’s summary; CNBC links the upfront premium to neoclouds and financing firms hedging against a possible future ban on remote access.
CNBC reports that Chinese AI model developer Kimi is looking to rent Nvidia Blackwell GPUs from a European cloud provider. Kimi is interested in using the chips for both inference and training.
Kimi reportedly offered to pay 30% to 50% more upfront than buyers outside China.
Jukan (@jukan05) posted at 13:46 UTC, citing CNBC, that the Kimi developer is looking to rent Nvidia Blackwell GPUs from a European cloud provider, for both inference and training. The post says Kimi ‘reportedly offered’ to pay 30% to 50% more upfront; CNBC’s article, as this piece reports, says one source said it had been proposed that Moonshot pay that much more, without saying who proposed it. CNBC reports talks with neoclouds in Europe in the plural; the single ‘European cloud provider’ is the poster’s wording.
Why the Upfront Premium
Offtakers leasing AI compute typically pay a fee and an upfront cost that is a percentage of the lifetime contract value, CNBC wrote. It said arrangements with Chinese customers “can be more lucrative upfront, as neoclouds and financing firms look to hedge against a potential future ban of remote access agreements”.
CNBC reported that current US law “does not give regulators broad authority to control companies’ access to those chips through cloud services hosted overseas”. The Remote Access Security Act, which would extend export controls to cloud-based access, passed the House of Representatives in January but has not passed the Senate, CNBC said.
What Nvidia and Moonshot Said
Moonshot, Nvidia, the White House, the US Department of Commerce, China’s embassy in the UK and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment, the outlet said. Asked earlier this week about a Financial Times report that Nvidia told cloud providers they must sell at least 51% of services to non-Chinese customers, an Nvidia spokesperson said, per CNBC: “America cannot win the AI race unless America’s AI infrastructure wins worldwide”.
As we read CNBC’s report, the price of access is moving into the contract terms: one source said Moonshot was proposed to pay 30% to 50% more upfront, and CNBC wrote that such deals can be more lucrative upfront as neoclouds and financing firms hedge against a possible future ban on remote access.
As we read the two reports together, the routes differ: Reuters reported about 600,000 chips held in Hong Kong awaiting Beijing’s import approval, while CNBC reports Moonshot seeking to rent Blackwell capacity hosted in Europe, which CNBC says current US law does not broadly cover.
CNBC, 5 November 2026
“Current law does not give regulators broad authority to control companiesโ access to those chips through cloud services hosted overseas”
Three Implications
FOR EUROPEAN NEOCLOUDS CNBC wrote that arrangements with Chinese customers can be more lucrative upfront, as neoclouds and financing firms look to hedge against a potential future ban of remote access agreements.
FOR NVIDIA The FT reported that Nvidia told cloud providers they must sell at least 51% of services to non-Chinese customers, CNBC said.
FOR US POLICY The Remote Access Security Act passed the House of Representatives in January but has not passed the Senate, CNBC reported.
The framework says: “It’s a fundamental constraint on the speed of AI transformation, and it’s creating geopolitical leverage that operates independently of who has the best models.”
As we read it, the framework is about minerals and processing, not chips; we apply its idea of leverage that sits outside modelquality to access to computing capacity, which per CNBC Moonshot has sought in Europe. The framework does not discuss Moonshot or neoclouds.
What Is Not Established
CNBC does not name the European neoclouds or countries involved, and it does not report that any deal was signed; it describes deals as discussed and talks as having taken place. Who proposed the 30% to 50% upfront premium is not stated. The 1.3-to-1.5-times and 1.3% figures are our arithmetic from reported numbers. We have not seen statements from Moonshot or the European providers.
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Moonshot AI has sought access to Nvidia Blackwell chips through data centres in Europe, with deals discussed this year to rent capacity from neoclouds, CNBC reported, citing four people familiar. One source said a 30% to 50% higher upfront payment than a non-Chinese offtaker’s had been proposed. CNBC reported that current US law does not give regulators broad authority over cloud access to the chips hosted overseas.
A note on sourcing. The Moonshot, Blackwell, premium and policy details come from CNBC’s exclusive of 5 November 2026, which cites people familiar with the matter. The Hong Kong figure is Reuters’ as reported in our earlier piece. Ratios are our arithmetic.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
