Zhipu AI's GLM-5 Leak Sparks Market Frenzy
Zhipu AI's GLM-5 Model Leak Sends Shockwaves Through Tech Sector
The Chinese artificial intelligence industry witnessed an unexpected development during the 2026 Lunar New Year celebrations when details about Zhipu AI's next-generation GLM-5 model surfaced unexpectedly. The leak triggered immediate market reactions, with Zhipu's stock price skyrocketing by an astonishing 200% and pushing its market valuation to HK$150 billion - triple its initial public offering value.
Mystery Model Revealed
Tech enthusiasts first noticed something unusual when a model called "Pony Alpha" appeared on OpenRouter, a global platform for AI services. Its remarkable coding abilities - rivaling those of Claude Opus - quickly made it the talk of online tech communities.
The model's true identity became clear through two telltale signs:
- System prompts that referenced GLM technology
- Distinctive quirks characteristic of Zhipu's models, like producing specific unusual responses to certain prompts
Technical Breakthroughs
What makes GLM-5 stand out? The model adopts DeepSeek-V3's efficient sparsity attention architecture (DSA) while making significant improvements:
| Feature | Improvement |
|---|
The decision to build on DeepSeek's architecture appears particularly strategic. Not only does it save development resources, but it also allows compatibility with existing optimization frameworks like vLLM and SGLang - potentially saving enterprises millions in deployment costs.
Market Impact
The leak couldn't have come at a better time for Zhipu AI. As Chinese tech firms increasingly compete globally in AI development, demonstrating this level of technical capability sends a strong message to both investors and competitors.
The inclusion of video understanding capabilities specifically addresses what many saw as DeepSeek's primary limitation - its text-only approach. In today's visual-heavy digital landscape, this enhancement could prove crucial for real-world applications.
Key Points:
- Market Reaction: Zhipu stock surged 200% following the leak
- Technical Specs: Features DeepSeek-inspired architecture with doubled parameters (745B total)
- Efficiency: Maintains high performance while activating only small portions of its neural network
- New Capabilities: Adds robust video understanding to compete in multimedia applications
