The Chinese AI model Kimi K3 has suspended new subscriptions after overwhelming demand pushed its capacity close to its limits
HONG KONG -- The new, powerful Chinese artificial intelligence model Kimi K3, which has caused a stir in the U.S. tech industry, has suspended new subscriptions after a flood in demand overwhelmed capacity within days of the launch.
The development highlighted challenges faced by Chinese AI models in serving a growing user base at home and abroad at a time the U.S.-China tech race is heating up.
Chinese open-source, lower-cost advanced AI models, including DeepSeek’s latest V4, have been moving fast in gaining global attention. In early 2025, DeepSeek shook world markets and helped China to be recognized as a serious competitor to the U.S., where Chinese frontier AI models are largely open source, meaning they are made accessible for people to examine and build upon.
“Kimi K3 has received far more love than we expected,” Moonshot AI, which is Beijing-based, wrote in a X post late on Sunday. “Over the past 48 hours, demand has pushed close to the limits of our current capacity.”
Moonshot said that it’s prioritizing existing subscribers and would be temporarily pausing new ones. “We’re adding capacity as fast as we can and will reopen new subscription spots in batches," it added. The AI startup also posted a similar message on Chinese social media.
K3’s public rollout late last week, aiming at challenging more advanced AI models by Anthropic,OpenAI and others, has rattled U.S. rivals. At 2.8 trillion parameters, a measurement of an AI model’s capabilities, it's deemed as the world’s largest open-source AI model.
“New model releases generally trigger massive interest, which can strain existing compute infrastructure,” said Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia. “This does show Moonshot AI does not have sufficient compute chips to serve the current surge in demand.”
