China's AI Stocks Surge as Zhipu and MiniMax Hit Record Highs

Chinese artificial intelligence stocks continued their remarkable rally on Thursday, with Zhipu AI and MiniMax Group posting strong gains in Hong Kong trading as a wave of new model launches and product announcements fueled investor enthusiasm across the sector.

Zhipu, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as Knowledge Atlas Tech Joint Stock (HK:2513), surged as much as 15% to an all-time high of HK$999.0, while MiniMax Group Inc (HK:0100) climbed 5.4% to HK$1,053.0. Both companies significantly outperformed the broader Hang Seng Index, which slipped 0.3% on the day.

Zhipu's standout performance came on the heels of its latest breakthrough — the release of GLM-5.1, its most capable AI model to date. The company also raised its model pricing for the second time this year, signaling growing confidence in both product quality and market demand. The positive momentum spilled over to MiniMax, which has been moving swiftly to fill the gap left by Anthropic's decision to discontinue Claude support for third-party tools, including the AI agent platform OpenClaw.

Both companies have been aggressively expanding into the AI agent space, rolling out a series of competing tools over the past two months as demand for autonomous AI solutions accelerates across China. This positions them firmly within China's elite group of AI startups known as the "AI tigers" — companies considered central to the country's broader artificial intelligence ambitions.

Global tailwinds also played a role, with Meta Platforms unveiling a new AI model and Anthropic announcing additional agentic capabilities, reinforcing positive sentiment worldwide.

Since their public market debuts earlier this year, both stocks have delivered extraordinary returns — Zhipu is up approximately 650% and MiniMax has gained around 205% — vastly outpacing the performance of the wider Hong Kong market.