China’s new AI model halts new subscriptions as demand swamps capacity

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