U.S. Keeps a Watchful Eye on Moore Threads, China’s Version of Nvidia

Huawei often garners attention as a leading Chinese designer and manufacturer of AI chips capable of competing with Nvidia and AMD. However, other Chinese companies specializing in AI hardware are also gaining ground. Notable players include MetaX, Biren Technology, Innosilicon, Zhaoxin, Iluvatar CoreX, DenglinAI, and Vast AI Tech.

“The amount of resources that has been dedicated to this area in China … is quite massive, so you can’t underestimate them.” This warning, addressed to the U.S., came from someone who knows what he’s talking about: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. He made these comments at Computex last year. Huang intended to warn the government about the consequences of sanctions to curb China’s technological progress.

Huang isn’t alone in taking China’s AI innovation seriously. Last November, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai commented on the scale of AI development in China, saying, “The scale of AI work in China is just astounding to see. In some ways, China is going to be at the forefront of AI, and that’s a given.”

U.S. Monitors Moore Threads Closely

The government added Moore Threads to its blacklist last October. The Chinese company, involved in producing AI hardware, is now restricted from receiving software or advanced equipment from U.S. aligned companies and their allies. Although founded in 2020, Moore Threads benefits from the experience of its founder, Zhang Jianzhong, a former general manager of Nvidia’s China subsidiary.

Moore Threads has developed several GPUs for AI applications that, on paper, compete with advanced solutions from Nvidia, AMD, and Huawei. Its most notable products are the MTT S4000 and MTT S3000 cards, which have generated significant interest. The company also offers the MTT S80 card, geared toward gaming and content creation, with a reported computing capacity of 14.4 teraflops in single-precision floating-point operations. While not industry-leading, this capability is still noteworthy.

Currently, Moore Threads can’t compete with Nvidia outside China, but its prospects are promising. Over the past four years, the company has raised about $800 million from more than two dozen investors, including Chinese tech giants ByteDance and Tencent. According to the South China Morning Post, Moore Threads is also preparing for a public offering, which could further boost its financial stability, enhance its innovation capacity, and solidify its position as a significant player in China’s AI industry.

Image | Moore Threads

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