China's Zhipu Has a Tepid Debut

 

 

Zhipu AI (internationally branded as Z.ai) is a prominent Chinese artificial intelligence company that specializes in large language models (LLMs).

 

As of January 8, 2026, it became the world's first major LLM-focused company to go public, listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX: 02513).

 

Company Profile

 

    Origins: Spun out of Tsinghua University's Knowledge Engineering Group (KEG) in 2019, it was founded by researchers including CEO Zhang Peng and Professor Tang Jie.

 

    Valuation & IPO: Its IPO raised approximately HK$4.35 billion (US$558 million), valuing the company at roughly US$6.6 billion to $7.3 billion.

 

    Key Backers: Investors include Alibaba Group, Tencent, Ant Group, Meituan, Xiaomi, HongShan (formerly Sequoia China), and Saudi Aramco (via Prosperity7).

 

 

Key Models and Technology

Zhipu is best known for its GLM (General Language Model) family, which is often cited as a primary competitor to models from OpenAI and Anthropic.

 

    Flagship Models:

 

        GLM-4.7: Its latest flagship model (released late 2025/early 2026), specifically optimized for agentic coding, long-horizon planning, and reasoning.

 

        GLM-4.6V: A state-of-the-art vision language model (VLM) with native multimodal tool-calling and UI automation capabilities. UI automation capabilities involve using software to programmatically control and interact with graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to simulate human actions like clicking, typing, and data scraping, enabling automated testing, repetitive task handling, and improved accessibility across web, desktop (Windows, iOS, Android), and mobile platforms. Key features include element identification, event handling, cross-platform compatibility, and integration with APIs, with modern trends leaning towards AI for self-healing tests and low-code solutions.

 

        GLM-4-Voice: An end-to-end speech model capable of real-time conversations in English and Chinese with adjustable emotion and tone.

 

    Open Source: Many of its models, including GLM-4.5, are open-source and free for download, positioning Zhipu as a leader in the global open-source AI race.

 

    Multi-Modal Tools: The company offers video generation (the "Ying" model) and specialized web search APIs designed for LLMs.

 

 

Platforms and Services

 

    Z.ai Chat: A free conversational interface powered by GLM-4.7 and 4.6, available at z.ai.

    Zhipu AI Open Platform: A developer portal (at bigmodel.cn) providing APIs for text, vision, and speech models, as well as fine-tuning services.

 

“Knowledge Atlas Technology, better known as Zhipu, fizzled on its first day of trading in Hong Kong, marking a tepid start to 2026 for Chinese artificial-intelligence hopefuls as they flock to one of the world's most active public markets.

 

The Beijing-based company's relatively muted debut -- the first of two this week by closely watched generative AI companies -- stands in contrast to the recent blockbuster starts of Chinese chip startups, a sign that successful AI-related listings aren't a given. It also suggests that investors may be becoming more discerning amid all the noise surrounding AI.

 

The company's stock opened slightly higher on Thursday before peaking at 135 Hong Kong dollars, a 16% rise from its initial public offering price of HK$116.20. While it finished the day's trading up 13% at HK$131.50, the performance is considered unremarkable by Chinese AI-related companies' standards, given Moore Threads Technology's 425% debut and MetaX Integrated Circuits' nearly eightfold increase on its first trading day.

 

The IPO of Zhipu, which raised gross proceeds of HK$4.35 billion, equivalent to US$558.6 million, is the latest of a wave of listings by Chinese AI startups as Beijing seeks to become more technologically self-sufficient over the coming years.

 

Founded in 2019 by a group of top researchers from Tsinghua University, Zhipu has emerged as one of China's "little dragons" in the generative AI space, a term used to describe a handful of startups viewed as potential national champions in the field.

 

The company received early backing from Tsinghua University itself, helping anchor its academic roots. Over time, it attracted government-backed funds like Beijing Zhongguancun Science City Innovation Development, as well as other investors such as Hillhouse and Qiming Venture Partners.

 

Analyst Douglas Kim of Douglas Research Advisory has a positive view of Zhipu's IPO, pegging the stock's base-case valuation at HK$223 a share.

 

"Many investors are willing to pay for the high valuations" mainly due to Zhipu's position as one of the leaders in the large language model sector in China and globally, he wrote in a note published on Smartkarma.

 

Among China's large generative startups, Zhipu is one of the few that raises funds in the yuan. Others, including MiniMax and Moonshot AI, relied on dollar fundraising. Zhipu focuses more on institutional clients, while the other two focus more on the consumer market.

 

The AI frenzy has also driven a surge of listings by companies across the LLM, robotics and biotechnology spaces.

 

Hong Kong last year reclaimed the top spot in the global IPO market for the first time since 2019, according to a recent KPMG report.

 

Still, valuations of Chinese AI startups pale in comparison to leading U.S. players like OpenAI and Anthropic. Zhipu has a post-listing valuation of about US$7.3 billion, a far cry from the ChatGPT developer's US$500 billion valuation in October.

 

Zhipu more than doubled its revenue to 312.4 million yuan in 2024, but its loss widened sharply to 2.96 billion yuan from 787.96 million yuan. The company remains unprofitable, with losses standing at 2.36 billion yuan in the first half of 2025. As of June, Zhipu had 2.5 billion yuan of cash on hand and in bank.

 

"What we're doing is highly ambitious and capital intensive," Chief Executive Zhang Peng said in an interview with Chinese media in late 2024.

 

"We have a strategic fundraising roadmap, raising the right capital for the right goals at each stage, while staying aligned with the best-fit investor," he said at the time.” [1]

 

1. China's Zhipu Has a Tepid Debut. Qu, Tracy.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 09 Jan 2026: B4.