China’s leading model developers are still relying on Nvidia chips to train some of their most advanced models, despite Beijing’s push to replace foreign semiconductors with domestic alternatives. Switching hardware also means changing the software systems built around Nvidia’s CUDA platform, creating a costly engineering challenge for model developers. That gap highlights why China’s semiconductor self-sufficiency drive involves more than producing domestic chips. Kimi K3 was reportedly trained using Nvidia hardware, including advanced Blackwell processors, according to a July report by The Information. The report also indicated that Chinese developers continued to use Nvidia chips for training advanced models despite efforts to expand domestic alternatives.