The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security is investigating how Chinese AI companies access Nvidia chips remotely through overseas data centers in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, a practice that is not currently illegal. The review was triggered by Moonshot AI’s release of the Kimi K3 model, which performed comparably to systems from Anthropic and OpenAI despite China’s restricted access to advanced Nvidia hardware. Chinese firms reportedly use complex corporate structures and shell companies to obscure their involvement while the physical chips remain overseas. Commerce Department officials say closing the gap may require new legislation, since existing enforcement powers were designed for physical goods rather than cloud-computing arrangements.
