After H-shares soared threefold, Zhipu is sprinting for a STAR Market IPO, adding Guotai and Haitong as advisory institutions.

China’s leading generative AI company, Zhipu, has seen a huge market response after its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is now accelerating plans to list on Shanghai’s STAR Market. This move aims to leverage the higher valuation premium of mainland capital markets and achieve a dual listing in both the A-share and H-share markets, demonstrating ongoing market confidence in the rebound of Chinese AI stocks. According to a document submitted on Wednesday and obtained by Bloomberg, Zhipu has hired Guotai Haitong and CICC as its advisors for the STAR Market listing. Previously, CICC had submitted a progress report on Zhipu’s third phase of IPO counseling on January 15, showing that the company was moving ahead with due diligence as planned, targeting a dual listing. Boosted by this news, Zhipu’s share price surged by as much as 23.4% on Friday, reaching an all-time high of HK$496. Since its debut on the HKEX on January 8, the stock’s cumulative gain has expanded to about 320%. The company previously raised $558 million in its Hong Kong IPO. Zhipu is also the first among the leading tech stocks to choose the rare route of listing in Hong Kong first, then Shanghai. Analysts point out that a return to the mainland market will help Zhipu tap into a new pool of investment capital and leverage the valuation advantage of mainland stocks compared to their Hong Kong peers. Since the start of this year, Shanghai’s STAR Market 50 index, led by chip stocks, has risen over 9%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index has fallen nearly 3%. Rare Reverse Listing Path This move by Zhipu breaks the usual practice of Chinese tech companies first listing on the mainland before going to Hong Kong, opting instead for the less common reverse path. Previously, several Chinese tech firms including OpenAI challenger MiniMax Group and chip design firm Montage Technology flocked to the Hong Kong IPO market, driving record performance in the city for January. Meanwhile, companies listed in Shanghai, such as Moore Threads and Meta Integrated Circuits, saw triple-digit gains on their first day. Chelsey Tam, Senior Equity Analyst at Morningstar, said: “We continue to observe a valuation premium for A-shares compared to H-shares. Listing on the mainland also allows companies to expand their investor base and improve access to domestic capital.” According to the latest counseling report, Zhipu’s third counseling phase will run from October 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025. The company originally planned to file for an A-share listing with Beijing regulators in April 2025 but later revised its strategy to list in Hong Kong first. The counseling team is now deepening due diligence, checking the issuer’s compliance in operations. Technical Iteration and Computing Breakthroughs If the transaction proceeds smoothly, Zhipu will rely on investor enthusiasm for its latest large language model, GLM-5, to support its valuation. This model has overtaken the competing product from U.S.-listed Moonshot AI on the ranking site Artificial Analysis, clinching the top spot for open-source models. Jefferies analyst Edison Lee noted in a report: “This shows that, despite limited access to Nvidia chips, Chinese AI models continue to innovate in computation and memory efficiency, achieving breakthroughs with local chips. Given soaring memory prices and expensive computing costs, this is an important positive direction for Chinese AI.” Strong product demand has become a catalyst for the stock price surge. Reports indicate that after the flagship GLM-4.7 model was released, demand for programming subscription services soared, forcing Zhipu to cut daily sales volume of its programming assistant service “GLM Coding Plan” to just 20% of previous levels from January 23 to maintain the user experience for existing customers. Financial Fundamentals Remain Challenging Despite the enthusiastic capital market response, Zhipu still faces severe financial tests. Although this Tsinghua-affiliated company was founded in 2019 and has seen rapid revenue growth, its strategy of “sacrificing profitability for technology” has led to losses far exceeding its revenues. Data show that from 2022 through the first half of 2025, Zhipu accumulated net losses totalling RMB 6.2 billion. In 2024 alone, it suffered a loss of RMB 2.958 billion. Structural challenges facing the company mainly stem from declining profitability in its cloud business and huge R&D investments. Gross margin in its cloud deployment business has plunged from 76.1% in 2022 to -0.4% in the first half of 2025, putting core operations under cost pressure. Cumulative R&D investment over three and a half years totals RMB 4.4 billion, with 2024 R&D expenses over seven times that year’s revenue—a level of investment that, while building a technological moat, continues to drain cash flow. Risk Warning and Disclaimer The market is risky, and investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it take into account the individual investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of any particular user. Users should consider whether any opinions, viewpoints, or conclusions in this article are suitable for their specific circumstances. Invest accordingly at your own risk.