Chinese startup Moonshot AI, backed by Alibaba Group, has unveiled a new artificial intelligence model called Kimi K3, in a move that intensifies global competition with major U.S. companies in the sector, led by OpenAI and Anthropic.

The company said the new model delivers performance that rivals the latest AI models developed by U.S. firms, a development that reflects the accelerating pace of competition between China and the United States in one of the most important technology sectors.

According to Moonshot AI, the Kimi K3 model consists of 2.8 trillion parameters, making it the largest open-source AI model announced to date.

The number of parameters is one of the key indicators reflecting the model's size and its ability to process data and perform complex tasks. The company announced that it will make the model fully and freely available to developers worldwide by the end of July.