What Chinese AI model Kimi’s success says about the next phase of US-China AI race

In January 2025, the release of a Chinese artificial intelligence model called DeepSeek R1 drew global attention and briefly triggered market panic. It was a low-cost, quality product that was compared to ChatGPT and other top models from the United States as discussions about AI-related overspending were gaining ground.DeepSeek also evoked curiosity and questions — just how capable is China’s AI sector? In parallel, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, accused DeepSeek of copying its technology, with a Trump administration adviser backing the claim.A similar sequence of events seems to be playing out now. Chinese company Moonshot AI released its Kimi K3 model earlier this month, said to rival models from US-based companies OpenAI and Anthropic. It boasts features including coding, financia