The public trading debuts of two Chinese AI unicorns this week reflect the hype surrounding the sector as Beijing looks to rival the US’ leading tech startups.
Zhipu became the first of China’s “AI tigers” to go public Thursday, and MiniMax starts trading in Hong Kong Friday. Both run much slimmer operations than their Silicon Valley competitors: Zhipu’s chairman expects US peers to be forced into a price war as Chinese AI companies expand globally at lower price points. The company — seen as a challenger to OpenAI — cares less about profitability than proliferation, Bloomberg wrote.
2026 is expected to be a big year for Hong Kong tech IPOs as Chinese authorities fast-track AI and chip listings.