Moonshot AI in Early Talks With Microsoft, Amazon and Google to Host Kimi K3 Model, Sources Say
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The Facts
- Moonshot AI is negotiating revenue-sharing agreements with Microsoft, Amazon and Google to host its Kimi K3 model.
- Moonshot is seeking up to 30% of revenue generated by K3-related services on Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.
- The talks are at an early stage and no agreements have been signed.
- Any agreement would be the first major revenue-sharing pact between a Chinese AI developer and a large U.S. cloud provider.
- Unresolved issues in the talks include how revenue would be split, data access, and auditing of token usage.
- Kimi K3 is an open-weight model with 2.8 trillion parameters, making self-hosting impractical for most organizations.
- Senior U.S. officials have publicly criticized Moonshot, and the Treasury Secretary has suggested blacklisting the company.
- Microsoft, Amazon and Google declined to comment, and Moonshot did not respond to a request for comment.
Context
Why would U.S. cloud providers be interested in hosting a Chinese AI model?
Reporting cites rising Western demand for high-performing Chinese models that often cost far less than Western alternatives Times of India,Investing.com. Kimi K3 has scored strongly on independent third-party benchmarks and has been described as competitive with leading U.S. models Yahoo! Finance,wallstreet:online, with one broadcast report saying it can rival Anthropic's workload at roughly 40% lower cost Fox Business. Large cloud providers are also seen as the main channel to enterprise customers wallstreet:online.
What are the political and security complications?
The talks are taking place despite national security concerns in Washington that have led to bans on exports of AI chips to China Investing.com,Jerusalem Post. The White House has accused Moonshot of using stolen Anthropic technology to build the K3 model Times of India, and the U.S. Treasury Secretary has suggested blacklisting the company Next Web.
If Kimi K3 is open-weight, why would anyone pay Moonshot for it?
K3 can in principle be downloaded and modified, but at 2.8 trillion parameters the compute needed to serve it puts self-hosting out of reach for most organizations wallstreet:online,Next Web. Moonshot has said companies that sell the model as a service and earn more than $20 million a year owe it a revenue share Cryptopolitan, and the 30% figure it is seeking from the cloud giants matches terms offered to other large customers News International,https://www.outlook….
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
Left and right largely agree on this one.
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both treat the unresolved questions — the split, data access, auditing of token usage — as reasons to settle before signing, with the burden falling on whoever wants the deal.
- Where Left and Right differ in emphasis
- Whether the story is about cloud companies chasing revenue owing the public proof that hosting is safe, or about American infrastructure carrying a Chinese developer's model at all.
- Why they won’t converge
- The divide is values, not evidence: one side treats hosting risk as a set of conditions — data access, token auditing — that can be cleared and verified, the other as a question of strategic dependence no contract clause settles.
How left and right read it
The burden of proof here belongs to the cloud companies chasing the revenue, not to the public. These talks remain early and unsigned, yet the very questions that determine whether hosting is safe — data access and auditing of token usage — are precisely the ones still unresolved, while senior U.S. officials have criticized Moonshot and the Treasury Secretary has floated blacklisting it. Clear those risks first, or don't host it.
Strategic self-reliance in AI is worth more than a revenue split, and the burden of proof belongs to anyone who wants American cloud infrastructure carrying a Chinese developer's model. Moonshot is asking for as much as 30% of revenue from K3 services on Azure, AWS and Google Cloud, yet the split, data access and auditing of token usage all remain unresolved. Senior officials have already criticized the company and floated blacklisting it — so settle that question before the first such pact gets signed, not after.
“Alworth explains the differences in AI models including open-source, open-weight, and closed-source, noting Kimi K3's ability to rival Anthropic's workload at a 40% lower cost, raising questions about national security risks.” — Fox Business
The receipts — all 38 sources
Wire services (5)
Independent coverage (33)
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