The Zhipu AI logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen.
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Shares of Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC, better known as Zhipu, edged higher on their Hong Kong debut, following a $558 million initial public offering that made it the first of China’s “AI tigers” to go public.
The stock rose as much as 15% above its offer price of 116.20 Hong Kong Dollars ($15) on Thursday, with around 37.4 million shares on offer by the Beijing-based startup.
The IPO valued Zhipu at around HK$4.3 billion, making it one of the larger AI flotations in recent years.
Founded in 2019 by researchers from a top Chinese university, Zhipu represents the country’s first major large language model company to go public through an IPO. The listing marks another key milestone for China’s broader artificial intelligence sector following a wave of recent listings by AI chipmakers.
The firm, strongly backed by Beijing, is also considered one of China’s so-called “AI tigers” — startups building large language models to rival the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic.
Other notable firms in the group include DeepSeek, which famously rattled markets early last year with the release of one of its LLM models.
While not as well known globally as DeepSeek, Zhipu gained attention last year when American AI juggernaut OpenAI highlighted its notable progress as a competitor on the “front line” of China’s race to lead in AI.
The firm reportedly has offices in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, and across the Middle East. It also operates joint “innovation centers” projects across Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia and Vietnam.
Zhipu’s progress has come despite being placed on the US Commerce Department’s Entity List in January last year, after U.S. officials said it was working with China’s military. The firm’s ability to train its AI models has also been constrained by U.S. restrictions on access to advanced semiconductor technology and expertise.
According to Zhipu’s prospectus, it plans to use 70% of the IPO proceeds toward research and development of its general-purpose large AI models. The firm reported revenue of 312.4 million yuan in 2024.
Rival Chinese AI start-up MiniMax is expected to launch its own offering on Friday, following a confidential filing last year.
