Zhipu AI Soars 13% in Hong Kong Debut as First Major Chinese AI Company Goes Public

Zhipu AI surges 13% in its Hong Kong trading debut, becoming the first major Chinese AI company to go public with a $558 million IPO as the Beijing-based OpenAI rival plans to invest 70% of proceeds into developing general-purpose AI models.

• Zhipu AI shares rise 13.1% to close at $131.5 in Hong Kong debut, making it the first major Chinese large language model developer to go public through a $558 million IPO
• The Beijing-based startup, founded in 2019, is considered one of China's 'AI tigers' and operates as a potential competitor to OpenAI despite being placed on the US Commerce Department's Entity List
• Zhipu plans to allocate 70% of IPO proceeds toward research and development of general-purpose AI models, while rival Chinese AI startup MiniMax prepares its own public offering