Chinese AI ‘tiger’ Zhipu edges towards Hong Kong listing expected to raise US$300 million

Chinese artificial intelligence firm Zhipu AI has moved a step closer to a Hong Kong initial public offering to raise US$300 million after passing a listing hearing and filing its documents with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing on Friday.\nThe Beijing-based start-up, officially named Knowledge Atlas Technology Joint Stock Company Limited and marketed overseas as Z.ai, is widely seen as one of China’s “new AI tigers”.\nThe prospectus did not disclose a fundraising target or timetable, but brokers have said the company could seek about US$300 million as early as January.\nIf successful, Zhipu could become one of the first major large language model (LLM) start-ups globally to list on a stock exchange, as mainland tech hopefuls increasingly look to Hong Kong to tap international capital.\nZhipu’s filing comes amid a broader wave of mainland technology names weighing Hong Kong listings, including AI firm MiniMax, chipmaker Montage Technology, image-sensor developer OmniVision Integrated Circuits, and GPU-focused companies Biren Technology and Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor.\nAhead of the proposed listing, Zhipu had completed eight fundraising rounds, raising a total of 8.36 billion yuan (US$1.19 billion). Its latest valuation was estimated at about 40 billion yuan, based on a late 2025 financing round that roughly doubled its valuation from a year earlier.\nFounded in 2019 by professors at Tsinghua University, Zhipu is regarded as one of China’s leading AI start-ups. It filed for a mainland listing earlier this year, but has since shifted its focus to Hong Kong.\n“Zhipu and other mainland technology companies want to list in Hong Kong because the city’s stock market is widely traded by international investors, including wealthy Middle East investors who have strong interest in mainland AI and tech hopefuls,” said Tom Chan Pak-lam, permanent honorary president of the Institute of Securities Dealers.\n“These technology companies avoid going public in the US amid tense China-US relations, while the mainland market is harder for international investors to access,” Chan said.\nHe added that AI companies were keen to press ahead in the coming months while investor appetite for the sector remained strong.\nChan said about 20 AI companies had listed in Hong Kong since 2023, with a combined market capitalisation of about HK$280 billion (US$36 billion), and that many had performed well after listing.\nThe trend would continue to support the city’s IPO market in 2026, he said, after Hong Kong reclaimed the world’s largest listing venue by funds raised this year.\nZhipu has yet to turn a profit and is seeking to list under Chapter 18C, a route designed for specialist technology companies that do not meet the exchange’s traditional profit requirements and may have limited revenue.\n“While the absolute amount of our net losses increased during the track record period, we expect to turn around our net loss position through an increase in revenue and enhancement in operating efficiency,” the company said in its filing.\nZhipu said revenue jumped 325 per cent in the first half of the year to 190.9 million yuan, and it expected revenue for the three months to the end of September to rise about 60 per cent from a year earlier.\n\nThe company offers model services through a model-as-a-service (Maas) platform that can be deployed locally or in the cloud.\nLosses, however, had widened alongside growth. Adjusted net losses in the first half reached 1.75 billion yuan, more than 70 per cent higher year on year, which it attributed largely to increased research and development (R&D) spending.\nR&D investment rose to 1.59 billion yuan in the first half.\n“We have and expect to continue to invest substantial funds in R&D,” the company said, warning that any inability to sustain investment while achieving innovation could materially harm its business and prospects.\nZhipu said it intended to allocate about 70 per cent of IPO proceeds to further R&D on general AI large models, 10 per cent to optimising its Maas platform, 10 per cent to expanding its partner network, with the remainder earmarked for working capital.\nAs of June 30, the company had 883 employees, including 657 in R&D, and served more than 8,000 institutional clients across the private and public sectors.\nIn October, Li Zixuan, Zhipu’s head of global operations, told the Post the company was seeing faster growth overseas than at home, with the number of paid users abroad rising tenfold in two months after the launch of its GLM-4.5 and GLM-4.6 models.\nMarket research firm Sullivan has estimated China’s large language model market would expand to 101.1 billion yuan by 2030, implying a compound annual growth rate of 63.5 per cent from 2024 to 2030.\n