Moonshot AI reportedly claims up to 30% of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google's revenue on Kimi K3

The Chinese laboratory is negotiating with the three major American clouds for a revenue share on the hosting of its K3 model — a first for a Chinese AI company.

According to sources quoted by Reuters, Moonshot AI is in discussions with Microsoft, Amazon and Google about the conditions for hosting its Kimi K3 model on Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. The Beijing-based laboratory is reportedly asking for up to 30% of the revenue that the three providers would derive from the services backed by the model. The discussions are described as preliminary and may not lead to any agreement.

Such an arrangement would be the first large-scale revenue sharing between a Chinese AI lab and a U.S. hyperscaler. Several points remain open: the distribution key, the terms of access to the data and how to audit token consumption. Moonshot has already concluded similar agreements with smaller platforms, including the IT services company Chinasoft International in July.

The political context complicates the matter. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last month raised the issue of adding Moonshot to a trade blacklist, and U.S. officials accuse the company of using Anthropic's models to build K3 and procuring Nvidia chips by circumventing export rules.