On December 31, Shanghai's AI powerhouse MiniMax (Xiyu Technology) officially commenced its Hong Kong stock offering, with plans to go public on January 9, 2026, under the stock code 0100.

Just one day prior, Tsinghua-affiliated Zhipu AI took the lead in launching its offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming for a listing on January 8, 2026.

The IPOs of Zhipu and MiniMax not only secure crucial capital for their growth but also signify the formal entry of China's independent large-scale AI model providers into the global capital market.

While Zhipu AI and MiniMax are advancing their IPOs almost concurrently, there are notable disparities in their pricing strategies, valuation scales, and investor compositions.

According to the prospectus, Zhipu AI has set its issue price at HK$116.20 per share, anticipating approximately HK$4.1734 billion in net proceeds from the global offering.

In contrast, MiniMax has established a pricing range of HK$151 to HK$165 per share. Excluding the potential adjustment to the offer size and the exercise of the over-allotment option, the issue valuation is projected to range between HK$46.123 billion and HK$50.399 billion.

Both companies have secured an impressive roster of cornerstone investors, albeit with distinct focuses. Zhipu AI has attracted 11 cornerstone investors, with a total proposed subscription of HK$2.98 billion, accounting for nearly 70% of the offering.

Its investor lineup encompasses international long-term funds, core Beijing state-owned assets, large public funds, and other categories.

MiniMax, on the other hand, has brought in 14 cornerstone investors, including Aspex, Eastspring, Mirae Asset, Alibaba, and E Fund, with a total subscription of approximately HK$2.723 billion.

Notably, international asset management giants like Aspex, Eastspring, and Mirae Asset are typically cautious about serving as cornerstone investors. Their participation underscores the recognition from international long-term capital of MiniMax's long-term growth potential.

MiniMax's remarkable journey from inception to IPO in just over three years is closely linked to its unique full-modal technology approach and global market strategy.

MiniMax stands out as one of the few global firms with self-developed capabilities in full-modal large models, encompassing text, voice, vision (images and videos), and music. The company has independently developed a suite of multimodal general large models, including MiniMax M2, Hailuo 2.3, Speech 2.6, and Music 2.0.

Leveraging these self-developed models, MiniMax has successfully crafted an AI-native product matrix catering to both consumer (C) and business (B) segments, including Hailuo AI, Talkie, and Xingye, while also offering open platform services for enterprise users and developers.

In terms of commercialization, MiniMax adopted a global strategy from the outset. By September 2025, the company had amassed over 212 million individual users across more than 200 countries and regions.

In the first nine months of 2025, the company's revenue soared by over 170% year-on-year, with overseas market revenue contributing more than 70%.

MiniMax's revenue growth trajectory has been remarkably steep. The company's revenue was a mere $3.46 million in 2023, surging to $30.52 million in 2024, representing a year-on-year increase of 782.2%. In the first three quarters of 2025, revenue further climbed to $53.437 million, far surpassing the full-year level of 2024.

The revenue breakdown reveals that AI-native products, such as Hailuo AI and Talkie/Xingye, account for over 70% of the company's revenue. These products are primarily monetized through in-app purchases and subscriptions.

MiniMax's globalization strategy is evident not only in user distribution but also in technological influence. On LMARENA.AI's Web Dev leaderboard, MiniMax M2.1 Preview ranked fourth globally, with voice and video modalities also leading worldwide.

Remarkably, from its inception until September 2025, MiniMax has spent a cumulative total of only $500 million, approximately 1% of OpenAI's expenditure during the same period.

Despite its explosive revenue growth, MiniMax, like most cutting-edge AI companies, still faces substantial losses. This predicament stems from high R&D investment and computing power costs.

In the first nine months of 2025, MiniMax's adjusted loss reached $186 million, while its revenue for the same period was $53.437 million, with losses far outstripping revenue.

R&D expenditure represents the company's largest expense item, with R&D spending in the first three quarters of 2025 equivalent to 3.37 times its revenue scale.

Since its inception, MiniMax has accumulated considerable losses. Prospectus data shows that the company's adjusted losses were $12.15 million, $89.07 million, $244 million, $170 million, and $186 million for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and the nine months ended September 30, 2024, and 2025, respectively.

However, MiniMax's cash flow situation remains relatively robust. As of September 30, 2025, the company's total cash balance reached $1.046 billion.

Based on current cash burn rate projections, even without IPO proceeds, the company's cash is sufficient to support operations for approximately 37 months.

With the proceeds from the initial public offering, the cash would be enough to sustain the group's operations for about 54 months, lasting until approximately March 2030.

In terms of profitability, MiniMax has shown signs of improvement. The company's gross profit margin swiftly turned positive, rising from -24.7% in 2023 to 12.2% in 2024 and further improving to 23.3% in the first nine months of 2025.

By business segment, the company's B-end business benefits from a globally oriented, sustainable cloud-based API call business model, boasting a gross profit margin as high as 69.4%.

As of the end of September 2025, MiniMax had a total of 385 employees, with an average age of only 29 years. Research and development personnel account for nearly 74% of the workforce, and the average age of the board of directors is 32 years.

This young and dynamic team is about to embark on a new chapter in the Hong Kong stock market. The company plans to allocate approximately 90% of the proceeds raised to large model upgrades and AI-native product development over the next five years.

With Zhipu AI and MiniMax successively listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, China's large-scale AI model industry has reached a pivotal juncture, transitioning from technological exploration to commercialization validation.

References:

https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_32289201

https://stcn.com/article/detail/3566014.html

https://longportapp.cn/zh-CN/topics/37324068