Benchmarking against OpenAI, Zhipu aims to become China's "No. 1 AI stock", with a monthly fee of only 20 yuan.

Chinese artificial intelligence startup Zhipu AI, aiming to rival OpenAI, is rapidly advancing toward the goal of becoming China’s “No.1 AI stock,” leveraging its fast-growing revenue and clear commercialization path.

On the business front, Zhipu AI has also achieved key milestones in commercialization. According to media reports quoting company co-founder and CEO Zhang Peng, the company's annual recurring revenue (ARR) from selling software tools and model access to developers has exceeded 100 million yuan (about $14 million).

Since launching its flagship model GLM-4.5 in July this year, the subscription service’s user base has grown tenfold in just two months. Citing an insider, media reported that Zhipu AI’s total revenue in 2024 reached $42 million, and sales are expected to more than double in 2025.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Zhipu AI submitted its IPO counseling registration to the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau on April 14, 2025, with CICC serving as its counseling institution. As planned, the company expects to complete counseling by October 2025 and could list on the A-share market as early as 2026.

This startup, now valued at over $3 billion, is backed by prominent investors including Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings. As its sources of income expand from traditional government agencies and state-owned enterprises to a wider developer community and corporate clients, Zhipu AI is striving to be the first to go public in China’s post-ChatGPT market.

Low-price strategy breakthrough, API platform draws over a million paying users

The core of Zhipu AI’s commercialization path lies in its highly attractive pricing strategy. The company positions itself as a technically advanced challenger with significant cost advantages. CEO Zhang Peng once said:

"Our models are good enough—they’re among the world’s top tier. We have huge advantages in price and cost."

He even joked that if Anthropic sells its products for $200, Zhipu AI would sell them for 200 yuan.

This strategy has proven effective in practice. According to the company spokesperson, Zhipu AI’s API business platform now serves over 2.7 million paying customers, including major Chinese tech companies. In September 2024, the company launched a new subscription plan for its AI coding assistant, at a monthly fee as low as 20 yuan, which is about one-seventh the price of Anthropic’s Claude, and has already attracted over 150,000 users.

According to media cited insiders, Zhipu AI’s total revenue in 2024 reached $42 million, and sales are expected to more than double in 2025. Zhang Peng said the company aims for revenue from its tools business to eventually account for half of total income.

Zhang Peng believes that China's market is still in a phase where the demand for high-quality AI services exceeds supply. "The market is up, the demand is up, and people are now willing to pay," he said, adding that a key issue to address is meeting the surging demand for AI inferences: "But can inference resources keep up?"

Model capabilities at top-tier level, forging ahead as China’s “No.1 AI stock”

Zhipu AI’s momentum for an IPO is fueled not just by business success but also by strong technical capabilities. Its GLM-4.5 model released in July and the upgraded GLM-4.6 released in September received global attention for powerful capabilities, with the latter’s latest improvements focusing on coding and AI agent performance.

According to model benchmark site LMArena, Zhipu AI's GLM-4.6 model, along with DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen, and the Kimi model from Moonshot AI, is ranked among the top tier, just below Silicon Valley’s finest. Notably, media reports say OpenAI’s global affairs team has warned that Zhipu AI presents "significant progress" and challenge.

With technical confidence and rapid business growth, Zhipu AI is competing with Shanghai-based Minimax, known for audio/video generation, to become China’s first publicly listed AI model developer. "We deserve this title," Zhang Peng said:

"We came to this point naturally, without forcing it. But it’s like the last kilometer of a marathon—you have to speed up."

Zhipu AI was founded in 2019 as a commercialization of technology from Tsinghua University’s computer science department. Since inception, it has attracted significant capital and completed multiple financing rounds. Its shareholders include well-known venture firms such as Hillhouse Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Legend Capital, as well as strategic investments from internet giants Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, and Xiaomi.

Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market has risks; investments must be made with caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it take into account the specific investment goals, financial situation, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article are suitable to their particular circumstances. Invest at your own risk.