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AI export curbs spur a gray-market for advanced chips in Southeast Asia
A Chinese AI startup, Moonshot, reportedly accessed a cluster of about 20,000 advanced compute chips through third party leasing routed via regional cloud architectures.
MarketBeat Ratings reports that U.S. export controls targeting AI development in restricted markets have helped drive a multi billion dollar gray market for AI hardware across Southeast Asia. The outlet says demand for AI infrastructure has continued despite trade barriers, with sovereign entities and startups routing accelerator clusters through proxy cloud architectures to circumvent restrictions.
According to MarketBeat Ratings, Moonshot obtained access to a compute cluster estimated at about 20,000 advanced chips without purchasing units directly. The company used third party leasing structures routed through regional cloud setups, which the outlet says enabled foundational model training while aiming to avoid direct violations of trade laws.
The outlet also points to Thailand as an emerging hub for gray market distribution, saying buyers in restricted regions pay premiums over list prices to secure processing power. MarketBeat Ratings adds that these markups are treated as a standard cost of doing business because the opportunity cost of falling behind in foundational model training outweighs the added expense.
MarketBeat Ratings further notes that the gray infrastructure extends beyond older hardware, though it does not provide additional specifics in the supplied text. The reporting frames the trend as a case where price elasticity breaks down for compute deemed essential to future competitive survival.