Moonshot’s Kimi 3 AI Model Expected to Challenge Anthropic’s Opus 4.8

Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI is reportedly preparing to launch Kimi 3, the next generation of its open-weight AI model family, with performance expected to rival or even surpass Anthropic’s Opus 4.8. According to a Financial Times report citing anonymous sources, the model could become China’s largest open-weight AI release to date.

Kimi 3 is expected to feature between 2 trillion and 3 trillion parameters, significantly expanding on the capabilities of the company’s Kimi K2 models, which have gained recognition in the open AI community for delivering strong benchmark performance while remaining competitive with leading proprietary models.

The new model is reportedly scheduled to launch within days and represents Moonshot AI’s latest effort to narrow the performance gap between open-weight and closed-source artificial intelligence systems developed by companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

Alongside the upcoming release, Moonshot AI is reportedly seeking fresh investment at a valuation of approximately $31.5 billion. The company previously raised $2 billion in May at a $20 billion valuation, reflecting growing investor confidence in China’s rapidly expanding AI sector.

The development comes as enterprises increasingly debate whether expensive proprietary AI platforms offer enough value compared with open-weight alternatives. Industry leaders have expressed concerns that businesses using commercial AI services may inadvertently share valuable knowledge through prompts and feedback submitted to cloud-based models.

As a result, more companies are exploring open-weight AI models that can be customised and deployed privately. Executives have increasingly recommended platforms developed by Moonshot AI, DeepSeek and Z.ai as lower-cost alternatives that organisations can fine-tune using their own data and expertise.

If Kimi 3 delivers on the expectations of industry observers, it could further strengthen the growing momentum behind open-weight artificial intelligence and increase competitive pressure on proprietary AI providers that rely primarily on subscription-based business models.