Zhipu considers multi-billion IPO in Hong Kong after stock surge of 2000%

Chinese company Zhipu, one of the leading large language model developers in Asia, is considering a large secondary offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to sources familiar with the situation, the company is in preliminary talks to raise several billion dollars. Zhipu has not yet provided official confirmation.

Growth of 2000% in six months

Since its initial public offering in January 2026, Zhipu's shares have risen 2000% — one of the most impressive results among Asian tech companies in recent years. Several factors underlie this: the global boom in generative AI, a series of successful launches of new models, and a strong inflow of institutional investors into Chinese technology assets. The phenomenal stock price growth creates a strategic window of opportunity for Zhipu: to conduct a secondary offering at a high valuation while market sentiment remains positive. Delay risks missing the peak of investor interest in the sector.

Why Zhipu needs billions

The raised funds are planned to be directed towards accelerating business development. The most likely priorities are:

• Development of the next generation of GLM series language models
• Expansion of computing infrastructure for training and inference
• Entry into international markets beyond China
• Hiring leading AI researchers
• Strengthening positions in the corporate solutions segment

The competitive race in AI requires colossal investments. According to industry analysts, training one frontier model costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and the pace of releasing new versions constantly accelerates. Without a constant influx of capital, it is difficult to maintain positions in the top tier.

Who is Zhipu

Zhipu was founded by a team of researchers from Tsinghua University — one of China's leading technical universities. The company is known for a series of open GLM (General Language Model) models and the ChatGLM dialogue assistant, which has become one of the most popular Chinese AI products among developers and corporate clients. After DeepSeek shook up the global AI market in early 2025 — demonstrating the possibility of creating high-quality models with relatively modest budgets — the entire sector of Chinese developers received a powerful investment impulse.

Zhipu was among the main beneficiaries of this attention. The listing in January 2026 and the subsequent stock price growth confirmed that the market is ready to value Chinese AI players on par with Western counterparts. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange traditionally remains the preferred venue for mainland Chinese technology companies: it provides access to international capital while maintaining proximity to the domestic market and facing less regulatory pressure than a US listing.

What it means

If the deal closes, Zhipu's offering will be one of the largest in the global AI sector in 2026. It is a signal to the market: even under geopolitical pressure and restrictions on the supply of advanced chips, investors are ready to aggressively finance Chinese AI developers. Next year will show whether the company can transform its stock market success into sustainable technological leadership.