Moonshot AI valued at $35 billion
The Chinese AI company Moonshot AI raised more than its funding target and reached a valuation of $35 billion, Bloomberg reports. The round strengthens China's leading developer of open-weight models.
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Open-weight AI alliance
Symbolic imageWhere things stand
Moonshot AI now carries a $35 billion valuation after raising more than its target, Bloomberg reports, adding money to the lab that has open-sourced Kimi K3's infrastructure. The alliance around it still has no model, licence or joint commitment.
AI models are described as "open-weight" when the trained parameters that define their behaviour are made available for others to download, run and adapt, in contrast to closed models that can only be reached through a provider's own interface. The distinction matters for who can inspect, modify and deploy a model independently of the company that built it. Nvidia, Microsoft and IBM are all major suppliers in the AI market, spanning chips, cloud services and enterprise software, so their stated positions carry weight in how the industry settles the question. This topic tracks their reported endorsement of the open-weight approach and what follows from it. The reporting so far comes from The National.
Timeline in detail
Moonshot AI open-sources the infrastructure behind Kimi K3
Moonshot AI open-sources the infrastructure behind Kimi K3
The Chinese lab Moonshot AI has published the key infrastructure technologies behind its Kimi K3 model as open source, according to Global Times, which calls K3 the world's largest open-weight model. Only that single, Chinese state-affiliated report is available so far, and it gives no parameter count, licence terms or benchmark figures. The step strengthens the camp that distributes model weights freely against the closed frontier labs.
Nvidia forms Open Secure AI Alliance as open-weight dispute widens
Nvidia forms Open Secure AI Alliance as open-weight dispute widens
Nvidia has created an Open Secure AI Alliance with a cyber security focus to defend openly downloadable AI models, and Abu Dhabi's G42 said on Monday it would join a membership of at least 38 companies. Days earlier, a letter signed by 25 large firms, among them Microsoft and IBM, endorsed open-weight models. At the same time the Chinese start-up Moonshot set out licence conditions for its Kimi K3 model, while investors and policymakers remain split over how safe freely usable systems are.
Moonshot releases Kimi K3, the largest open-weight AI model to date
Moonshot releases Kimi K3, the largest open-weight AI model to date
Chinese start-up Moonshot AI has unveiled Kimi K3, a model with 2.8 trillion parameters whose weights are being published for free download from 27 July 2026. Company-run benchmarks place it ahead of the strongest closed models from Anthropic and OpenAI, and American developers and firms are already switching to it on cost grounds. Washington accuses Moonshot of building the model off Anthropic's technology; Beijing calls the charge groundless.
Anthropic and OpenAI break with US tech industry over Chinese open-weight AI models
Anthropic and OpenAI break with US tech industry over Chinese open-weight AI models
Anthropic and OpenAI are at odds with much of the rest of the American technology industry over whether so-called open-source artificial intelligence models from China should circulate freely in the United States or be restricted, the New York Times reported on 25 July 2026. The dispute follows endorsements of open-weight models by Nvidia, Microsoft and IBM, reported by The National. At stake is how far Chinese systems spread through Western infrastructure.
Nvidia, Microsoft and IBM endorse open-weight AI models
Nvidia, Microsoft and IBM endorse open-weight AI models
Nvidia, Microsoft and IBM are among the companies endorsing open-weight artificial intelligence models, The National reports. The position favours wider distribution of model parameters rather than keeping them closed.