The Beijing-based company later pared gains but was still up roughly 30% in afternoon trading. Listed in Hong Kong in January following a $558 million initial public offering, Zhipu was the first major pure-play AI model company in China, and arguably the world, to go public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zhipu said in its earnings report released Tuesday that its revenue rose about 132% to 724 million yuan in 2025 from the previous year, though that figure missed the\u00a0mean\u00a0analyst\u00a0estimate\u00a0of 760 million\u00a0yuan,\u00a0polled by Reuters.<\/p>\n
The firm reported a net adjusted loss of 3.18 billion yuan, up 29.1% from the previous year, as research and development\u00a0spending\u00a0increased.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Founded in 2019 by researchers from Tsinghua University, Zhipu recently released its latest GLM-5 model, which it said \u2060matched U.S. rivals on several key performance metrics.<\/p>\n
Strongly backed by Beijing, Zhipu is considered one of China’s so-called “AI tigers” \u2014 startups building large language models to rival the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic \u2014 making it a strong barometer for China’s overall AI space.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an earnings call, Zhipu AI CEO Zhang Peng reportedly<\/a> said that \u200bthe company was accelerating its use of domestic Chinese chips to meet a \u200csignificant rise in computing demand since February, aligning with Beijing’s push to develop its domestic semiconductor industry.<\/p>\n The CEO’s comments were notable as the firm’s ability to train its AI models was previously constrained by U.S. export restrictions, limiting its access to advanced semiconductor technology and expertise.<\/p>\n Zhipu was also placed on<\/a> the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List in January last year over alleged links to China’s military.<\/p>\n Shares of MiniMax, a Chinese AI rival of Zhipu that also listed in Hong Kong in January<\/a>, were up about 16% in trading on Wednesday. <\/p>\n