From the evening of December 17 to December 18, the spotlight in the AI model sector was on MiniMax and Zhipu AI. Reports indicate that both companies—leading domestic AI model developers—have obtained overseas listing approvals from China's securities regulator and passed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's listing hearings this week, entering the final stages before their Hong Kong IPOs. While neither company has publicly commented and the HKEX has yet to disclose their prospectuses, insiders suggest an official announcement is imminent. As this IPO race nears its conclusion, the industry watches whether this marks the beginning of a consolidation phase.
The two front-runners are moving swiftly. Zhipu AI reportedly passed its HKEX hearing on December 17, while MiniMax also cleared its hearing the same day, aiming for a January 2026 listing. Both companies remained silent, and the HKEX hasn’t released post-hearing documents. Insiders expect public disclosures soon, potentially making these the fastest HKEX hearing approvals since China’s "filing-based" overseas listing mechanism was introduced.
Their synchronized HKEX hearings mirror the recent dual-primary listings of autonomous driving firms Pony.ai and WeRide in both U.S. and Hong Kong markets. However, their paths diverge: MiniMax secretly filed for its HKEX IPO in June 2025 as the first AI model firm to do so, while Zhipu AI initially planned a mainland listing before pivoting to Hong Kong.
Founded in 2019, Zhipu AI—a spin-off from Tsinghua University—pioneered large-scale model research, launching its 10-billion-parameter GLM-10B model in 2021. MiniMax, established in 2021 by former SenseTime executive Yan Junjie, gained traction with its Glow platform rivaling ChatGPT’s early popularity. Despite their prominence during China’s 2023 AI boom, both maintained low profiles amid industry hype.
Their product strategies differ markedly. MiniMax bets on multimodal (text/visual/audio) in-house development, offering AI-native apps like MiniMax Agent and Talkie across 200+ regions with 212M users, monetizing via global subscriptions. Zhipu AI focuses on AGI foundation models while expanding C-end products, recently open-sourcing its GLM-ASR speech recognition series and launching an AI input method.
Analysts note challenges. "While adoption grows, monetization remains unclear," says Wang Qinglin of Reachd Research. "Zhipu’s multimodal approach lacks urgent B/C-end demand, while MiniMax’s audio-video tools face copyright hurdles." Industry observer Wang Chao adds that being first to IPO doesn’t equate to technical leadership among China’s "Six AI Tigers."
The remaining four—including MoonShot AI (creator of top-5 AI app Kimi), Baichuan AI, StepFun, and 01.AI—show varied trajectories. While MoonShot’s Kimi leads in active users, Wang Chao cautions: "User scale alone doesn’t guarantee revenue conversion." Only 01.AI responded to inquiries, emphasizing its focus on industrial AI applications without commenting on listing plans.
As the HKEX bell looms, it signals a new phase: technical prowess grants entry, but sustainable business models, compliance, and capital endurance will determine long-term survival in this high-stakes race.
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