Beijing-based Chinese company Moonshot AI announced the suspension of new registrations in its modern artificial intelligence model "Kimi K3" a few days after its launch, noting that the record turnout exceeded its available computing power.
The company confirmed in a statement published on the "X" platform late on Sunday evening, July 19, that the demand approached the maximum limits of its systems within just 48 hours of the launch of the service.
The company explained that existing users will continue to use the service as usual, while it has decided to temporarily suspend the registration of new users until more computing capacity is added gradually and in successive batches to meet the increasing pressure.
Excelling in standard tests and open-weight capabilities
Moonshot has introduced the Kimi K3 model with a capacity of 2.8 trillion labs, becoming the largest open system to be launched to date in the AI markets.
The South China Morning Post revealed that the Chinese model outperformed prominent U.S. competitors, including GPT-5.6 Sol and Claude Fable 5, in several benchmark tests, during which it topped the list of the "Arena" platform for evaluating front-end programming capabilities.
The new model is part of a Chinese wave of low-cost, widely available models, following the launch of the DeepSeek V4 model and the success of the DeepSeek model in January 2025, reinforcing China's position as a direct competitor to the United States in the development of advanced technologies.
Analysts' Explanations and the Processing Chip Crisis
Lian Jae-su, senior analyst at technology research firm Omdia, said in press statements that the launch of any new model generates a sudden jump in interest that leads to overwhelming existing infrastructure.
Su stressed that this action shows that Moonshot AI does not have enough processing chips to meet the current surge in demand, noting that the model requires an exceptional amount of computing power, making capacity allocation costly and complicated.
This comment came in conjunction with Alibaba's review of its model "Qwen 3.8 Max", which includes 2.4 trillion laboratories, in addition to the launch of its model "Zhipu" by the Chinese company "Zhipu", its model "GLM-5.2", which witnessed a wide global spread last June.
Pressure on US technology stocks
The launch of the Kimi K3 has weighed on the stocks of major U.S. tech companies, amid fears that cheaper Chinese alternatives could reduce the ability of U.S. companies to price their services freely, according to financial reports.
The report noted that these developments come despite Washington-led restrictions and updates on exports, which have limited Chinese companies' access to some of the most advanced e-chips in global markets.