Moonshot AI to unexpectedly pursue Hong Kong IPO with a $50 billion valuation... Is OpenAI being pushed aside?

▲ Moonshot AI, OpenAI, Anthropic / AI-generated image

China's Moonshot AI is pushing for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, increasing pressure on OpenAI and Anthropic.

According to Stocktwits on September 3 (local time), Moonshot AI is reportedly submitting a confidential IPO application for listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Moonshot AI emerged as a new player in the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) industry after unveiling Kimi K3 in July. The company is also pursuing investment before the IPO. The valuation discussed for this investment is approximately $50 billion.

Kimi K3's competitiveness lies in its performance and cost. It shows a similar level of performance to some major AI models while being lower priced and open-sourcing its weights, allowing companies to operate or modify the model on their own systems. Stocktwits analyzed that this trend could fuel price competition among AI models, potentially burdening the profitability of OpenAI and Anthropic, which operate proprietary models. OpenAI is also expanding its open-source model strategy by releasing gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b.

US big tech companies are also paying attention to Kimi K3. Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google are reportedly in early negotiations to offer Kimi K3 on their cloud platforms. Moonshot AI is pushing for a plan to receive up to 30% of the revenue generated from Kimi K3-related services.

US AI companies are also preparing for listings. Anthropic is expected to go public as early as the end of this month or October. OpenAI's Q2 revenue increased by 18% quarter-over-quarter to $6.7 billion. Anthropic's revenue doubled during the same period. Stocktwits reported that the slowdown in ChatGPT's growth and the success of Claude Code increased pressure on OpenAI to restructure its business.

A gap also emerged in the valuation competition. According to Nasdaq Private Market data, Anthropic's valuation was assessed at $1.2 trillion. OpenAI was recorded at $881.38 billion. Moonshot AI's push for a Hong Kong listing shows the trend of Chinese AI companies rapidly catching up to leading US firms by leveraging low costs and open-source models.

[Article Key Summary]

-Moonshot AI has reportedly confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO and is pursuing pre-listing investment at a valuation of approximately $50 billion.

-Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are discussing offering Kimi K3 on their cloud platforms, with Moonshot AI requesting up to 30% of related revenue.

-The spread of low-cost, open-source AI models is emerging as a new pressure point on the pricing power and profitability of OpenAI and Anthropic.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*