The battle for the "first stock" of AI large models has begun! MiniMax and Zhipu AI have passed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing

The battle for the title of "the world's first stock of large models" has officially begun: two Chinese AI large model unicorn companies, MiniMax and Zhipu AI, have reportedly passed the listing hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this week. According to Tencent News' "Frontline" report on Wednesday, the 17th, both companies obtained the overseas listing filing from the China Securities Regulatory Commission at the beginning of this week and participated in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing. The media and other sources indicate that MiniMax passed the hearing on December 17, while Zhipu AI participated in the hearing on December 16. The Paper has learned from multiple informed sources that both MiniMax and Zhipu AI have passed the hearing process. Subsequently, Zhipu AI responded with "no comment," while MiniMax has not yet responded to related inquiries. If progress goes smoothly, these two companies will become the fastest cases to pass the hearing since the new "filing system" policy for mainland companies listing in Hong Kong was implemented. According to Tencent News' "Frontline," MiniMax plans to list in Hong Kong in January 2026, mainly considering the upcoming Christmas holiday in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong stock market is expected to welcome its first listed company focused on AGI foundational models as its core business, providing investors with direct investment opportunities to participate in the development of the AI large model industry. Zhipu AI's Business Performance Shines, Annual Recurring Revenue Exceeds 100 Million Yuan Zhipu AI was established in 2019, derived from the technology transfer of the Computer Science Department of Tsinghua University, and is one of the "six small tigers" of large models. The company has made significant progress in both business and financing this year. According to Zhipu CEO Zhang Peng, the company's software tools and model business aimed at developers (GLM coding plan) has achieved an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of over 100 million yuan. The Zhipu API business platform currently serves over 2.7 million paying customers, including several large domestic technology companies. In September this year, Zhipu launched an AI-driven coding tool subscription plan, with a monthly fee of only 20 yuan, about one-seventh of the price of Anthropic's Claude. This coding tool now has over 150,000 users. According to informed sources, Zhipu expects to achieve over 100% revenue growth in 2025. In terms of financing, Zhipu announced in March this year that it had completed multiple rounds of financing, receiving strategic investments from state-owned enterprises in Hangzhou, Zhuhai, and Chengdu. The company completed its share reform in March this year and filed for guidance with the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau in April, officially starting the IPO process. MiniMax Secures Leading Investment from Alibaba, Model Performance Ranks Among the Top Five Globally MiniMax was established in 2021 and has shown outstanding performance in technical strength and financing capability. In March 2024, the company completed a $600 million Series A financing round, with a post-investment valuation of $2.5 billion, led by Alibaba, with continued investment from previous investors such as Tencent. Public information shows that MiniMax has a strong lineup of investors, including Alibaba, Mingshi Capital, Sequoia, Hillhouse, Tencent, IDG, and other well-known institutions. The company's sponsor is UBS and other investment banks, while Zhipu AI's sponsor is CICC and other investment banks. In terms of technical performance, MiniMax released and open-sourced its next-generation text large model MiniMax-M2 on October 27. This model ranks among the top five globally and first in open-source on the authoritative evaluation list Artificial Analysis (AA), placing it in the global first tier Competing alongside Silicon Valley giants like OpenAI and Google. This is also the first time a Chinese open-source large model has made it into the global top five on this list. Tencent News "Frontline" learned that MiniMax had applied for an IPO in Hong Kong through a secret transaction in June this year, becoming the first domestic AI large model company to submit an IPO application in Hong Kong