China's Moonshot AI releases Kimi K2, a powerful open-source model with strong coding and agent task capabilities, aiming to regain its market footing.
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| As China's AI race heats up, Moonshot AI debuts open-source Kimi K2 to rival DeepSeek and U.S. firms, boosting transparency and global developer engagement. Image: CH |
Beijing, China — July 13, 2025:
Beijing-based startup Moonshot AI has released a new open-source artificial intelligence model called Kimi K2. Announced on Friday, the release marks the company’s latest effort to reclaim its leadership after a notable drop in platform usage and growing pressure from domestic rivals.
According to Moonshot’s statement, the Kimi K2 model features improved coding abilities, enhanced handling of general agent tasks, and advanced tool integration. These capabilities allow the model to break down and execute complex processes with greater accuracy and efficiency. The company claims Kimi K2 outperforms many mainstream open-source models, including DeepSeek’s V3, and in some areas even rivals top-tier U.S. models such as those from Anthropic, particularly in programming functions.
The launch of Kimi K2 aligns with a growing trend among Chinese tech firms to open-source their AI models, a move that stands in contrast to the strategies of many American tech giants like OpenAI and Google, who have kept their most advanced models proprietary. While some U.S. firms such as Meta have embraced open-source releases, Chinese companies are increasingly turning to transparent development as a way to expand global influence, attract developer communities, and counter Western efforts to contain Beijing's technological progress.
Other major Chinese players—including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, and DeepSeek—have also launched open-source models in recent months. The collective push is reshaping China’s AI ecosystem and positioning its developers to engage more directly with global innovation.
Founded in 2023 by Tsinghua University graduate Yang Zhilin, Moonshot AI quickly rose to prominence in 2024 thanks to the success of its Kimi application, which drew users for its strong long-text analysis and AI-powered search tools. However, the company’s momentum slowed after DeepSeek disrupted the market with low-cost alternatives, particularly the R1 model launched in January 2025, which captured significant user interest both in China and abroad.
Kimi, which once ranked third in monthly active users in August 2024, has now slipped to seventh place as of June 2025, according to Chinese AI analytics site aicpb.com.
By releasing Kimi K2 as open-source, Moonshot AI aims to reinvigorate its platform, regain developer trust, and reassert its position in a rapidly evolving landscape where transparency, performance, and accessibility are becoming central to AI dominance.