Beijing-based Moonshot has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, targeting $3 billion in proceeds at a $50 billion valuation—positioning it below domestic rivals DeepSeek ($74 billion) and Z.AI ($66 billion).
The economics hinge on infrastructure. Moonshot's July launch of Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter open-weight model, generated demand that has strained its computing capacity. The company is now in discussions with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google over revenue-sharing arrangements to host Kimi on their cloud platforms—potentially the first such pact between a Chinese AI firm and a major U.S. cloud provider.
Such deals would unlock two revenue streams: cloud hosting fees and expanded global distribution for Kimi, which faces intense domestic competition. Yang Zhilin founded Moonshot in 2023.
The timing is strategic. Z.AI and MiniMax have already listed in Hong Kong this year. Anthropic is expected to file by October, intensifying competition for capital among AI vendors. Moonshot's IPO proceeds would fund the infrastructure buildout required to support both domestic user growth and any cloud partnership obligations.
Financial details remain subject to regulatory approval and market conditions. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
