When MiniMax (HKG: 0100) rang the bell in Hong Kong this week, the market stood up and cheered.
Shares in the Shanghai-based AI company jumped more than 100% on their first day of trading, closing at HK$345 after pricing at HK$165.
That move pushed its market value past US$13.5 billion, and sent a loud message across Asia’s tech scene: that investors are very ready to back Chinese AI.
MiniMax raised US$619 million in its IPO, but it wasn’t the first out of the gate.
Just a day earlier, Beijing-based rival Zhipu became the first large language model start-up anywhere in the world to list publicly, pulling in US$558 million.
Its shares are already up 40% since listing. Note Zhipu is trading as Knowledge Atlas Technology (HK:2513)
Put simply, China’s AI hopefuls are heading to the stock market faster than their US peers, and there’s a reason for that.
Why Chinese AI firms need the cash, fast
As Tilly Zhang, technology and industrial policy analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics, put it, Chinese companies have more urgent funding needs than their US counterparts.
Zhipu AI, for instance, has gone through eight rounds of financing in just six years.
“Without the kind of massive financial backing that US hyperscalers enjoy, going public becomes a practical way to raise more capital,” said Zhang.
In the US, big AI players can rely on tech giants with bottomless pockets.
In China, startups have to stand on their own feet much earlier, and the stock market is now part of the business plan.
This is consumer AI at scale
MiniMax was founded by former SenseTime executive Yan Junjie, and has built multimodal models that handle text, images and video.
That’s why the company is best known for tools that create pictures and videos, not just words.
Instead of chasing big enterprise contracts, MiniMax has gone straight for everyday users.
Its character chatbot app Talkie is gaining traction with American teenagers, while its video generation platform Hailuo AI is building an audience among creators.
And that strategy is already paying off in revenue terms.
In the first nine months of 2025, MiniMax generated US$100 million in revenue, with more than US$70 million coming from its consumer apps, according to its IPO paperwork.
That’s not small change for a company still in heavy growth mode.
Revenue is coming, but so are the bills
But here’s the part investors need to keep both eyes open for: revenue does not mean profit.
Both MiniMax and Zhipu are spending huge amounts on research, computing infrastructure and overseas expansion.
Training large AI models is expensive. Running them is expensive. Competing globally is expensive.
The result is that both companies are still burning cash, even as sales grow.
That’s not unusual in AI, but it does shape the investment story.
These IPOs are not about near term earnings.
They are more about buying into long term positioning in what Beijing sees as a strategic industry.
It’s an ecosystem play
These listings come just as Chinese AI chipmakers like Biren, Moore Threads and Shanghai Iluvatar Corex Semiconductor have also gone public.
They’ve all seen strong share price gains as investors bet China will reduce its reliance on Nvidia over time.
In other words, this is about building an entire domestic AI supply chain – from chips, to data centres, to consumer platforms.
That’s why this first wave of IPOs is being watched so closely.
“Finally there is enough confidence to bring these companies to IPO,” said Wee Khoon Chong, a senior strategist at BNY.
Chong said it’s quite important that this first wave is going through successfully.
“The AI and tech-related optimism is going to continue and that should be fairly positive for the region.”
The race has started
The bigger takeaway, though, is this: China’s AI sector is no longer waiting quietly in the background.
It is stepping into public markets, asking investors to fund its next growth phase, and getting a warm welcome in return.
When AI startups double on debut, it’s a sign that capital markets are becoming part of the tech race itself.
And in this race, the starting gun has well and truly gone off.
This article is not financial advice. Always do your own research or speak with a licensed adviser before making investment decisions
Now read: Born in Tsinghua’s labs, Zhipu grows into China’s AI tiger
