Moonshot AI Pursues 30% Revenue Sharing with Microsoft, Amazon, Google for Kimi K3 Model Hosting
9 Sources
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EXCLUSIVE: China's Moonshot in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, Google over K3 revenue sharing, sources say
BEIJING/SINGAPORE, Aug 26 (Reuters) - China's Moonshot AI is negotiating revenue-sharing agreements with Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab that would allow the U.S. cloud giants to host its blockbuster Kimi K3 model,
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Moonshot AI wants 30% of what US clouds earn from Kimi K3
Talks with Microsoft, Amazon and Google are early, and the US Treasury Secretary has suggested blacklisting the company. Moonshot AI is in early discussions with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google about hosting Kimi K3 on their cloud platforms, seeking up to 30% of the revenue those services generate,
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Moonshot AI seeks revenue-sharing deals with Microsoft, Amazon, Google
The Beijing-based startup wants up to 30% of revenue from Kimi K3-related services on Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud, unnamed sources say Moonshot AI has entered into negotiations with Microsoft $MSFT, Amazon $AMZN, and Alphabet $GOOGL's Google over deals that would let the U.S. cloud giants offer
[4]
Reuters: China's Moonshot talking to US cloud giants over Kimi K3
The Chinese AI company is reportedly seeking a 30pc share of any revenue generated by Kimi K3-related services hosted on Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Chinese AI start-up Moonshot is in negotiations with US tech giants Microsoft, Amazon and Google for revenue-sharing
[5]
Reuters - China's Moonshot talking to US cloud giants over Kimi K3
The Chinese AI company is reportedly seeking a 30pc share of any revenue generated by Kimi K3-related services hosted on Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Chinese AI start-up Moonshot is in negotiations with US tech giants Microsoft, Amazon and Google for revenue-sharing
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China's Moonshot in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, Google over K3 revenue sharing
The discussions highlight how China's leading AI models, often far cheaper than Western offerings, are gaining traction in the US, despite national security concerns in Washington that have led to bans on exports of AI chips to China. They are also taking place despite critical comments about
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Microsoft, Amazon, Google Eye Kimi K3 Despite Bessent Threat - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are reportedly in early talks with China's Moonshot AI over revenue-sharing deals for its Kimi K3 model, weeks after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he might add the company to a U.S. trade
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China's Moonshot AI negotiates Microsoft, Amazon, Google over Kimi K3 revenue sharing - report
China's Moonshot AI is negotiating revenue-sharing agreements with Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet's Google that would allow the US cloud giants to host its blockbuster Kimi K3 model, three people familiar with the talks said. Any deal could mark the first big revenue-sharing pact between a Chinese
[9]
China's Moonshot in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, Google over K3 revenue sharing, sources say
Moonshot AI is negotiating revenue-sharing deals with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. These talks could allow US cloud providers to host its Kimi K3 model. The Chinese AI firm seeks up to a thirty percent revenue share from these services. Unresolved issues include revenue splits and data access for
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Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI is negotiating with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google to host its Kimi K3 model on their cloud platforms, seeking up to 30% of generated revenue. The early-stage talks could mark the first major revenue-sharing agreement between a Chinese AI firm and US cloud giants, despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and Treasury Secretary concerns about potential blacklisting.
Moonshot AI Enters Early-Stage Negotiations with US Cloud Giants
Moonshot AI is pursuing revenue sharing agreements with Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud to host its blockbuster Kimi K3 model on their platforms
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. The Chinese AI startup is seeking up to 30% of revenue generated from Kimi K3-related services, according to three sources familiar with the discussions1
. If finalized, this would represent the first major revenue-sharing pact between a Chinese AI firm and US cloud giants4
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Source: The Next Web
The early-stage negotiations remain uncertain, with no guarantee they will result in agreements
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. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services have all declined to comment on the discussions, while Moonshot AI has not responded to requests for comment1
.Key Unresolved Issues in AI Model Hosting Negotiations
Several critical issues remain unresolved in the talks between the Chinese AI startup and US cloud giants. Token usage auditing stands as a central concern, as measuring tokens—units of text processed by AI models—is essential for calculating revenue under usage-based billing
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. The auditing question carries particular weight since the party counting tokens would be the same party paying the revenue share2
.Data access provisions represent another delicate negotiation point. Enterprise customers will demand clarity about what a Chinese company hosting a model on cloud platforms like Azure or AWS can see regarding prompts and outputs flowing through the system
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. The final revenue split structure also remains under discussion4
.Kimi K3's Performance and the Open-Weight Model Challenge
Source: Benzinga
The 2.8 trillion parameter Kimi K3 has demonstrated strong performance in third-party evaluations
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. Arena.ai ranked it first in benchmarks assessing web interface-building capabilities, while Artificial Analysis reports it delivers performance comparable to OpenAI's GPT-5.5 and Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8, particularly on tests measuring complex, multi-step tasks1
.Though Kimi K3 is an open-weight model that can be downloaded and modified, few customers are likely to run a system with 2.8 trillion parameters on their own infrastructure due to massive computing costs
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. This reality makes cloud platforms the main route to enterprise adoption for large AI model providers like Moonshot AI1
.Related Stories
Geopolitical Tensions Complicate Commercialization Path
The discussions unfold against a backdrop of intensifying US-China technological tensions. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated last month he might add Moonshot AI to a trade blacklist
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. US officials have accused the Beijing-based company of stealing from Anthropic's most sophisticated model, Fable, to help create Kimi K3 and illegally acquiring Nvidia chips1
.Moonshot AI has rejected suggestions that Kimi K3's performance was achieved via distillation, telling China's National Business Daily that its performance gains came from original changes to underlying architecture
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. Whether these talks conclude may depend less on commercial terms than on whether Washington permits them at all2
.Moonshot AI's Valuation Trajectory and Hong Kong IPO Plans
Source: Jerusalem Post
Founded in 2023 by Carnegie Mellon-trained AI researcher Yang Zhilin, Moonshot AI is backed by several Chinese tech giants including Alibaba
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. The startup raised more than $2 billion in May at a $20 billion valuation and is preparing for a potential Hong Kong IPO1
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.Last month, Moonshot AI reportedly closed a $3.5 billion funding round at a $35 billion valuation, with China's National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund among lead investors
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. The company may be aiming to raise additional funds at a $50 billion pre-money valuation as it works toward a rumored public listing in coming months4
. This valuation trajectory—jumping from roughly $20 billion to a $30 billion target in about six months—makes international distribution through the world's largest cloud platforms commercially urgent2
.Moonshot AI has already signed similar revenue sharing agreements with some smaller cloud platforms, though details were not disclosed
1
. In July, Chinese IT services provider Chinasoft International confirmed it had a revenue-sharing agreement with Moonshot AI, though it did not disclose the revenue split1
.References
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