Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI is in early-stage negotiations with Microsoft, Amazon and Google to host its open-weight Kimi K3 model on their cloud platforms, with Moonshot seeking up to 30% of revenue generated from K3-related services, according to Reuters sources.
The proposed terms would apply to companies that resell Kimi K3 as a service and earn more than $20 million annually. Smaller providers below that threshold can host the model without paying Moonshot. If concluded, it would be the first major revenue-sharing agreement between a Chinese AI firm and U.S. cloud giants. Moonshot, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google all declined to comment, and the sources said the talks remain at an early stage.
Kimi K3 has 2.8 trillion parameters and is described by Moonshot as the world’s largest open-weight model. Despite the open-weight design, analysts note most customers are unlikely to run it on their own hardware because of substantial computing costs. Moonshot has already reached commercial arrangements with DigitalOcean and Chinasoft International, while Alibaba and Nvidia are pursuing similar revenue-sharing approaches.
The negotiations come amid U.S. scrutiny. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he may add Moonshot to a trade blacklist, and White House science advisor Michael Kratsios has accused the startup of building Kimi K3 through industrial distillation from Anthropic’s Fable model. Moonshot denies the claims. The company recently closed a funding round at a $35 billion valuation, raising $3.5 billion, and is reportedly targeting a $50 billion valuation before a possible Hong Kong IPO before the end of 2026.
