China’s Moonshot AI is in talks with Microsoft, Amazon and Google over revenue-sharing agreements that could see the US technology giants host its Kimi K3 artificial intelligence model on their cloud platforms, according to people familiar with the discussions.
If completed, the agreements could represent the first major revenue-sharing partnerships between a Chinese AI developer and leading US cloud providers, highlighting the growing international reach of Chinese AI models.
Moonshot, which is preparing for an initial public offering, is seeking up to 30% of revenue generated from Kimi K3-related services offered through Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, three sources familiar with the negotiations said.
The proposed arrangement is reportedly similar to terms Moonshot has discussed with other major customers using its open-weight model.
The talks remain at an early stage, however, and there is no guarantee that agreements will ultimately be reached.
The discussions come as Chinese AI models gain increasing attention in the United States, in part because they can be offered at significantly lower costs than some Western alternatives.
At the same time, technological relations between Washington and Beijing remain strained. The United States has imposed restrictions on exports of advanced AI chips to China over national security concerns, while senior US officials have also publicly criticised Moonshot.
Moonshot did not respond to requests for comment on the negotiations, while Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services declined to comment.