Shanghai (TDI): Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot on Friday launched Kimi K3, describing it as the world’s largest open-weight AI model and a major step forward in China’s race to compete with leading US AI developers.
The company said Kimi K3 features 2.8 trillion parameters, making it the largest open-source AI model released so far. It is designed for advanced reasoning, software coding and complex knowledge-based tasks.
Moonshot said the model’s performance is approaching that of Anthropic’s frontier AI systems and compares favourably with several leading models developed by OpenAI and other US companies.
The launch highlights China’s rapid progress in artificial intelligence, with domestic firms increasingly narrowing the technology gap with their American counterparts.
Kimi K3 also features a one million-token context window, enabling it to process significantly larger volumes of information in a single prompt than previous-generation AI models.
Independent benchmark tests also placed the model among the world’s top-performing AI systems. According to the company, Kimi K3 ranked first in one evaluation for web interface development and performed strongly in tests measuring complex reasoning and multi-step problem-solving.
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The announcement triggered a sharp reaction in financial markets, with shares of Chinese AI firms Zhipu and MiniMax falling as investors assessed the competitive impact of Moonshot’s latest release.
The launch comes as Chinese AI companies accelerate development of increasingly powerful models at lower costs, challenging the long-held perception that they lag far behind US technology leaders.
Industry analysts say the race is now shifting towards trillion-parameter AI systems capable of handling more sophisticated reasoning, autonomous coding and long-term decision-making with minimal human supervision.
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Unlike closed-source systems, open-weight models allow developers and researchers to download, customise and run the models independently, encouraging broader innovation and adoption.
Backed by major Chinese technology companies, including Alibaba and Tencent, Moonshot is expanding rapidly and is reportedly seeking $2 billion in fresh funding ahead of a potential listing in Hong Kong.
