OpenAI Challengers Test Appetite for China AI With Twin IPOs
MiniMax is run like a Silicon Valley startup, generating the bulk of its revenue from the 210 million users of its native AI apps through subscriptions and advertising.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/BloombergTwo of China’s largest generative AI startups are set for back-to-back debuts in Hong Kong this week, testing investor appetite for an industry that blossomed in the post-ChatGPT era. Yet Zhipu and MiniMax — among the country’s earliest challengers to sector leaders including OpenAI — took very different routes to public markets.
Zhipu and Minimax begin trading Thursday and Friday, respectively, in a litmus test of whether investors believe China’s fledgling AI industry can compete on a global stage. Both epitomize the country’s no-frills approach to AI, operating with far less capital, fewer chips and leaner headcounts than the likes of OpenAI Inc. and Anthropic PBC. But they sport rather distinct pedigrees.