Chinese AI startup Moonshot has temporarily suspended new subscriptions for its latest model, Kimi K3, after demand surged beyond its compute capacity within 48 hours of launch. The company cited unprecedented user interest, which pushed its GPU infrastructure to its limits. Existing subscribers remain unaffected, and Moonshot plans to reopen new sign-ups in batches as it scales up capacity.
Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter model, was released on Friday and quickly gained attention for outperforming U.S. rivals like Anthropic’s Fable 5 in coding tests. The model is set to release its open-weight version on July 27, allowing developers to download and modify its parameters. Moonshot is also testing a tiered membership system to optimize compute resources, splitting access into web and coding plans.
The suspension highlights the challenges faced by AI companies in scaling infrastructure to meet demand. Similar issues have been reported by U.S. firms like OpenAI and Anthropic, which have also paused new sign-ups due to capacity constraints. Moonshot, backed by Alibaba and Tencent, is preparing for a potential Hong Kong IPO and has raised over $5.5 billion in funding to date.
The rapid adoption of Kimi K3 underscores the growing competition between Chinese and U.S. AI firms. While U.S. companies often rely on closed models, Chinese firms like Moonshot and DeepSeek have embraced open-source strategies, offering cost-effective alternatives. This approach has sparked debate over regulatory risks and the potential for open models to accelerate AI development globally.