Export Controls Targeted China’s Chips, Not Capital: Report
Export controls went after China’s chips. They never touched the capital, and Moonshot AI (get the details) is reportedly seeking a staggering $5 billion in funding.
Zhipu and MiniMax already listed in Hong Kong in January, while Moonshot aims for a larger raise, with a syndicate of Western banks reported to be leading the effort.
September 4, 2026 – 3:40 pm
Moonshot AI in Talks with Tech Giants
Moonshot AI is considering a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) as early as this year, according to Bloomberg. Dong Cao, Julia Fioretti, Pei Li, and Luz Ding reported the story, citing sources who wished to remain anonymous.
The Beijing-based lab has filed confidentially and added Bank of America as the overall coordinator, alongside China International Capital Corporation, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs as sponsor banks.
Initial Reports Put Target at $3 Billion
Previously, reports suggested a target closer to $3 billion, so the current $5 billion figure should be treated as the most advanced version of a number still under discussion.
A Direct Challenge to Export Controls
It’s noteworthy that the export controls were designed to restrict advanced chips, but they never targeted the capital. This has resulted in Moonshot training its flagship model, Kimi K3, on Nvidia silicon, regardless of the US restrictions.
K3: A Powerful AI Model
Kimi K3 was trained on a 20,000-chip cluster provided through Alibaba’s cloud, utilizing H200 accelerators. Despite the constraints, Moonshot billed K3 as the world’s largest open-weight model at 2.8 trillion parameters when it launched in July.
Hong Kong: The Preferred Listing Destination
The choice of Hong Kong as the listing location is significant. Zhipu AI and MiniMax both successfully listed there in January, raising $560 million and up to $539 million respectively, as reported by Kinling Lo.
Moonshot, aiming for a considerably larger raise, would mark a substantial departure from the initial order in which Chinese labs entered the public markets, which was envisioned by Washington in 2022.
The Role of Western Banks
The involvement of Western banks, particularly Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank, highlights where the true "wall" lies. Export control regulations do not extend to what American banks can underwrite in Hong Kong, and a $5 billion listing offers a substantial fee pool.
This contrast with the Gulf, where Abu Dhabi’s G42 is considering a sale of majority ownership to American companies to maintain access to chips, further underscores the unique situation in China.