Z.ai Becomes China’s First Major Generative AI Company to Go Public with a $6.6B Valuation

Z.ai, the Beijing-based artificial intelligence company also known as Zhipu AI and developer of the GLM series of large language models, has made its public market debut in Hong Kong, becoming the first major Chinese developer of large language models to list.

The initial public offering raised about US$558 million, valuing the company at roughly US$6.6 billion at the issue price.

Shares of the company, formally listed as Knowledge Atlas Technology, rose 13.2% on their first day of trading in Hong Kong. Retail demand was strong, with the portion allocated to individual investors heavily oversubscribed, though the debut lagged recent listings by Chinese hardware and semiconductor groups.

Founded in 2019 by researchers from Tsinghua UniversityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Z.ai is often described as one of China’s “AI tigers” — startups building large language models intended to rival US peers such as OpenAI and AnthropicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.

The company focuses primarily on enterprise and institutional customers, including state-owned firms, which tend to favour customised AI systems over public cloud-based services.

Z.ai reported revenue of US$44 million in 2024 and remains loss-making, reflecting the high costs of model development and intense competition in China’s AI software market.

According to its prospectus, around 70% of the IPO proceeds will be directed toward research and development, particularly the training of general-purpose AI models.

The listing comes as investor enthusiasm in China’s technology sector has tilted toward more tangible parts of the AI supply chain, such as chips and infrastructure, which are seen as central to Beijing’s push for technological self-reliance.

By contrast, large language model developers face pricing pressure, limited access to advanced chips due to US export controls, and greater uncertainty around monetisation.

Sources:
Forbes
Bloomberg
South China Morning Post
CNBC
Reuters

Image source:
Caixin Global

J.V.