Moonshot AI in Talks with US Cloud Giants for Kimi K3 Revenue Sharing
Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI is reportedly in early-stage negotiations with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google to host its flagship Kimi K3 AI model on their cloud platforms. The proposed agreement involves a 30% revenue-sharing model, which would mark the first major partnership of this kind between a Chinese AI firm and US cloud providers. If successful, this partnership could establish a new business model for open-weight AI distribution and bridge the gap between Chinese AI developers and global cloud infrastructure. It also highlights how Chinese AI startups are seeking international reach despite geopolitical tensions and strict cloud computing landscapes. The negotiations currently face hurdles regarding the revenue-sharing mechanism, data access rights, and the auditing of token consumption. The 30% revenue-sharing rate aligns with the terms Moonshot AI offers to major clients using its open-weight models.
## BACKGROUND
Kimi K3 is Moonshot AI's flagship open-weight model featuring 2.8 trillion parameters, designed for complex tasks like coding and reasoning. Open-weight models allow users to download and run the model parameters locally, but hosting them on major cloud platforms like AWS or Azure simplifies deployment for enterprise clients, requiring clear agreements on token consumption and data privacy.