MiniMax, China’s second ‘AI tiger’ to go public, soars in Hong Kong debut
Zhipu and MiniMax are first Chinese ‘AI tigers’ to list
MiniMax surges 78%, potential for its consumer apps in focus
Zhipu jumps further on its second day of trade
SINGAPORE/HONG KONG/BEIJING, Jan 9 (Reuters) – MiniMax Group (0100.HK), opens new tab, the second so-called Chinese “AI tiger” to go public, rocketed 78% higher on its first day of Hong Kong trade on Friday, outshining fellow tiger Zhipu AI as investors clamoured for a piece of a startup with popular consumer apps.
The listing by MiniMax, which raised HK$4.8 billion ($620 million) in its IPO to fund research and development, follows a solid 13% climb in Thursday’s debut by Zhipu AI (2513.HK), opens new tab.
MiniMax shares were last trading at HK$294 per share, versus the offer price of HK$165.00, valuing the company at about $11.6 billion. At one point, the shares rose as high as HK$299.
“MiniMax’s focus on the consumer market appealed more to investors seeking high-growth opportunities, whereas Zhipu’s enterprise- and government-oriented model was perceived as more stable but less exciting in a market driven by hype,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at tech research firm Omdia.
Investors were also attracted by the strong performance of the company’s open source foundation models in key benchmarks, he added.
ZHIPU SURGES TOO
Founded in early 2022 by former SenseTime executive Yan Junjie, Shanghai-based MiniMax develops artificial intelligence models that can process text, audio, images, video and music. Popular apps include Hailuo AI, a video generation tool, and Talkie, an AI character interaction app that enables users to engage with AI-powered virtual personas.
“This is only the beginning,” Yan said at the firm’s listing ceremony. “We look forward to the next four years, hoping the pace of technological progress in the AI industry will remain as fast.”
Its cornerstone investors include Alibaba (9988.HK), opens new tab, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Boyu Capital, a Hong Kong-based alternative asset management firm, as well as Mirae Asset.
Zhipu AI, flagged by OpenAI as a Chinese AI startup gaining significant ground in government contracts, climbed a further 15% on Friday. It raised HK$4.35 billion in its IPO and is currently valued at around $7.4 billion.
With AI dominating investor interest worldwide, expectations for Chinese AI listings and other deals are high, although China’s most well-known AI firm, DeepSeek, has yet to indicate any IPO plans.
Huawei’s AI server spin-off xFusion has hired Citic Securities in preparation for a mainland IPO, while memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies and Baidu’s AI chip arm Kunlunxin are planning listings too, Reuters has reported.
Semiconductor specialists OmniVision Integrated Circuits (603501.SS), opens new tab and GigaDevice Semiconductor (603986.SS), opens new tab, both listed in Shanghai, are also due to commence trading in Hong Kong next week after secondary offerings.
($1 = 7.7946 Hong Kong dollars)
Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore, Yiming Shen in Shanghai and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
Yantoultra Ngui is the Southeast Asia Deals Correspondent of Reuters in Singapore, covering M&A and capital market activities in a region that is fast emerging as one of the world’s biggest economies. He previously was a reporter at Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Notably, he was part of WSJ’s team that covered the financial scandal at Malaysian state fund 1MDB, and that won SOPA Excellence in Breaking News award for the coverage of the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, in Malaysia in 2018. Yantoultra graduated with an MBA in Finance from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 2010.
Kane Wu covers M&A, private equity, venture capital and investment banks in Asia. She tracks the region’s most high-profile deals, fundraisings as well as investment trends amidst geopolitical, macroeconomic and regulatory changes. She was nominated for a SOPA Excellence in Business Reporting award for coverage of China regulatory crackdown in 2021. Prior to Reuters, she worked at the Wall Street Journal and also wrote about Asia’s loan market for Thomson Reuters Basis Point. She is based in Hong Kong.
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