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Chinese GPU start-up Moore Threads to cut jobs after US sanctions: report

  • Moore Threads CEO and founder said the job cuts would allow the company to consolidate resources and focus on GPU development
  • Despite the looming lay-offs, Zhang brushed off the suggestion that this was ‘a moment of darkness’ for China’s GPU development

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The MTT S80 graphics card from Moore Threads. Photo: Handout
Che Panin Beijing

Chinese graphic processing unit (GPU) start-up Moore Threads Intelligent Technology, which was added to a US trade blacklist last month, will start to lay off workers, according to local media reports, citing an internal letter by its founder.

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The job cuts will be finalised this week, according to Chinese media Jiemian News on Monday, which cited an internal letter from company CEO Jams Zhang Jianzhong.

As part of a broader US export controls, Moore Threads and Biren Technology, two top Chinese artificial intelligence chip start-ups, were added to the US trade blacklist in October, citing their engagement in activities contrary to US national security and policy interests. That means they will struggle to find wafer foundry services, a similar predicament faced by Huawei Technologies after September 2020, among other hurdles such as restrictions on the use of US electronic design automation software.

Moore Threads did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zhang said in the letter that it was a tough but necessary decision for the sake of the company’s development. The job cuts would also consolidate resources to focus on its GPU development.

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Both of the newly sanctioned Chinese companies have ties to the US. Biren was founded in Shanghai in 2019 by Wall Street veteran and Harvard Law School graduate Michael Zhang Wen, while Zhang was former general manager of Nvidia China before establishing his Beijing-based start-up in October 2020.

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