Two Chinese challengers to ChatGPT are set to go public this week.
Zhipu AI and MiniMax will debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 8 and 9, respectively, ahead of U.S. giants OpenAI and Anthropic. The two U.S. giants behind ChatGPT and Claude are laying the groundwork to go public this year, Reuters and Financial Times have reported.
Zhipu is seeking $560 million and MiniMax up to $539 million, according to prospectus filings. Both stocks have been oversubscribed, with MiniMax halting orders from institutional investors a day early due to overwhelming demand.
The initial public offerings will test whether investors still have an appetite for AI amid mounting concerns about an industry bubble.
Zhipu, founded in 2019 by Tsinghua University professors and backed by Meituan, Tencent, and Ant Group, claims its technology matches the performance of OpenAI and Anthropic’s flagship products. MiniMax, established in 2021 by former SenseTime executive Yan Junjie, operates the Hailuo AI video generator that competes directly with OpenAI’s Sora.
Their business models differ sharply.
Zhipu generates most of its revenue from Chinese state-owned enterprises and financial institutions, its prospectus shows. The company is also expanding overseas through sovereign AI partnerships. MiniMax draws about two-thirds of its revenue from individual users, with Singapore and the U.S. as its top markets, according to its filings.
Both companies are burning cash at a furious pace. Zhipu posted losses of about $330 million on just $27 million in revenue during the first half of 2025. MiniMax was unprofitable to the tune of $512 million on $53 million of revenue in the first nine months of last year.
The startups face U.S. headwinds. Washington blacklisted Zhipu in January last year, restricting its access to U.S. technology. MiniMax faces a $75 million copyright lawsuit from Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery over its video-generating app.
Yet cornerstone investors from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to Alibaba and Mirae Asset Securities are betting big on MiniMax.
How these stocks perform in their opening days will signal whether public markets are ready to reward China’s AI ambitions or whether the hype has finally outpaced the fundamentals.
