Moonshot, the Chinese AI startup, is in early negotiations with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google over revenue-sharing agreements to host its Kimi K3 model on all three companies' cloud platforms, according to a Reuters exclusive citing sources14. The company is seeking up to a 30% cut of revenues generated through hosting the model7,9.
The talks, reported across more than a dozen outlets, would place Kimi K3 on the cloud infrastructure of all three major U.S. providers simultaneously1,5,8. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are each weighing the proposed revenue-sharing structure11,12,13.
Vector Wire covered the initial Reuters report on August 27[1]. The volume of follow-on coverage from Seeking Alpha, Quartz, The Next Web, International Business Times, and others confirms broad market attention to the deal structure10.
China Money Network reported that the negotiations have raised concerns over AI regulation gaps in China, given that the deal would place a Chinese-developed model on U.S. cloud infrastructure15. Moonshot is described as pushing Kimi K3 into the U.S. market through these hosting arrangements.
ANALYSIS The proposed 30% revenue share is a distribution model more commonly associated with app stores and content platforms than with cloud-hosted AI models. If any of the three cloud providers agrees to these terms, it would establish a new commercial template for cross-border model hosting.
Hosting Kimi K3 across all three major U.S. cloud platforms, rather than signing an exclusive arrangement with one, would give Moonshot broad distribution while forcing Microsoft, Amazon, and Google to compete on the quality of their serving infrastructure rather than on exclusive access to the model.
The talks remain at an early stage, and the sources cited by Reuters have not indicated a timeline for any agreement.