---
id: "2026-01-08-zhipu-minimax-hong-kong-ipos"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-01-08-zhipu-minimax-hong-kong-ipos/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-01-08"
date_precision: day
category: business
importance: 4
confidence: high
status: [Confirmed]
sources: 3
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-04"
---

As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-01-08-zhipu-minimax-hong-kong-ipos/

# Zhipu AI and MiniMax become first LLM labs to go public (Hong Kong)

Chinese 'AI tigers' Zhipu AI (Jan 8) and MiniMax (Jan 9, 2026) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first major large-language-model companies to go public — ahead of OpenAI and Anthropic. MiniMax more than doubled on debut.

## Key facts
- Zhipu AI IPO raised US$558M; listed 2026-01-08; market value once exceeded HK$57B
- MiniMax IPO raised US$619M; listed 2026-01-09; shares rose 109% on debut
- Zhipu founded 2019 by Tsinghua professors; backers include Meituan, Tencent, Ant Group
- MiniMax founded 2021 by ex-SenseTime executive Yan Junjie; operates Hailuo video generator

## What happened

Within two days, two of China's leading foundation-model startups listed in Hong Kong. Zhipu (GLM models, internationally branded Z.ai) raised $558M and MiniMax (M-series LLMs, Hailuo video) raised $619M.

## Why it matters

Public listings give Chinese labs a capital source independent of US venture money and made them the first pure-play LLM developers with public market valuations.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): in its training data
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): in its training data
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): in its training data
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): in its training data

## Sources

1. [CNBC: MiniMax doubles in Hong Kong debut](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/09/minimax-hong-kong-ipo-ai-tigers-zhipu.html) (cnbc.com, press)
2. [Rest of World: China's MiniMax, Zhipu AI beat OpenAI to IPO](https://restofworld.org/2026/zhipu-ai-minimax-ipo/) (restofworld.org, press)
3. [Malay Mail: MiniMax surges 109% in Hong Kong IPO](https://malaymail.com/news/money/2026/01/09/chinese-ai-unicorn-minimax-surges-109pc-in-hong-kong-ipo-nets-us619m/204847) (malaymail.com, press)

## Changes

- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-08-14: [Zhipu (Z.ai) releases GLM-5.3, top open-weights coding/agent model](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-08-14-zhipu-glm-5-3/index.md)
- 2026-06-01: [MiniMax M3: open-weights 428B MoE with 1M context and native multimodality](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-06-01-minimax-m3/index.md)