Zhipu AI Soars 42% in Hong Kong Market Debut
Chinese AI Stocks Gallop Ahead in Year of the Horse
The Hong Kong stock market opened the Lunar New Year with a clear winner: artificial intelligence. While broader indices struggled, two Chinese AI champions - Zhipu and MINIMAX - raced ahead, leaving traditional sectors in the dust.
Zhipu's Meteoric Rise
Zhipu AI closed its first trading day of the Year of the Horse at HK$725, a staggering 42.72% leap that catapulted its market capitalization to HK$323.2 billion. The Beijing-based company specializes in large language models, positioning itself as China's answer to OpenAI.
"This isn't just about one company's success," noted Hong Kong tech analyst Li Wei. "Investors are betting big on China's entire AI ecosystem catching up with Silicon Valley."
MINIMAX Joins the Rally
The enthusiasm spilled over to Zhipu's competitor MINIMAX, whose shares jumped 12% to HK$957, pushing its valuation above HK$300 billion. The parallel surges suggest traders see room for multiple winners in China's rapidly expanding AI market.
What's Fueling the Frenzy?
Three days before trading resumed, Zhipu unveiled GLM-5 - its most advanced model yet:
- Parameter boost: Scaled up from 355 billion to 744 billion parameters
- Performance gains: 20%+ improvement in programming capabilities
- Agent evaluation: Topped three key benchmarks for open-source models
The company also implemented bold pricing moves, hiking rates for programming packages by over 30%. Surprisingly, these premium offerings sold out immediately - marking China's first-ever sellout of paid AI programming tools.
"The pricing power speaks volumes," commented Shanghai-based tech investor Rachel Zhou. "When developers willingly pay more for your product before even testing it thoroughly, you know you've built something special."
Key Points:
- Zhipu AI shares skyrocketed 42.7% on Lunar New Year market reopening
- Market capitalization breaches HK$323 billion milestone
- Rival MINIMAX gained 12%, surpassing HK$300 billion valuation
- GLM-5 model upgrade and successful price hikes boosted investor confidence
- Sector-wide rally signals strong belief in China's AI capabilities
