China’s ‘little Nvidia’ Moore Threads finds edge in video gaming GPUs despite performance gap

US-sanctioned Moore Threads is catching the attention of Chinese gamers with performance they claim is on par with Nvidia for the older titles they love

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Chinese video gamers are touting the advantages of the MTT S80 graphics card over Nvidia’s products owing to a steep discount for the card from Beijing-based start-up Moore Threads. Photo: Moore Threads Technology

Published: 9:00pm, 10 Jun 2024

A Beijing-based graphics processing unit (GPUs) design firm founded by a former Nvidia executive is generating excitement among Chinese video gamers in a sign of the country’s ability to quickly find substitutes for foreign brands in consumer-grade technology.

Moore Threads Technology, which was added to a US trade blacklist at the end of 2023, has emerged as a key competitor in a semiconductor market segment that globally is dominated by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

After the company recently expanded the number of supported titles for its MTT S80 to 130, up from 13 when the GPU launched in late 2022, players online have been favourably comparing it with Nvidia hardware, with many people touting its ability to measure up to GeForce RTX 3060 despite real-world use showing a large performance gap.

“It is on par with Nvidia’s products like the GTX 3060 in common situations, but there’s still a gap when playing AAA games,” said Eliot Yang Bingshi, a 23-year-old computer gamer in southwestern Sichuan province.

Jams Zhang Jianzhong, CEO of Moore Threads Technology, speaks at the launch of KUAE, a GPU-based computing platform for artificial intelligence training system, on December 19, 2023. Photo: Moore Threads Technology

That gap could be worth it for people who play older popular games like League of Legends and World of Warcraft, which the card now officially supports, as it comes with a steep discount. The MTT S80’s 1,499 yuan (US$200) price tag on e-commerce site JD.com is about 40 per cent below the price of the 4-year-old RTX 3060.

That makes the S80 a great alternative, Yang said.