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Zhipu, Not DeepSeek, Is OpenAI's Real Threat - And It's Reportedly Considering A Hong Kong IPO

The AI firm, which has begun the process for listing on one of China's A-share markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen, is reportedly also considering Hong Kong 

Key Takeaways:

Zhipu may be shifting its IPO plans, as it experiences major executive upheaval with the departure of several top managers this year

The AI company's valuation hit 40 billion yuan following a funding round this year, the latest of many in its brief history

　

Lau Chi Hang

DeepSeek may be grabbing all the headlines as China's homegrown challenger to foreign AI dominance. But U.S.-based ChatGPT creator OpenAI more likely views Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co. Ltd. — a low-profile operator that avoids the public eye, as its biggest competitive threat.

OpenAI openly acknowledges Zhipu's central role in Beijing's international tech aspirations, citing its overseas operations and deep government ties as global concerns. The U.S. government appeared to validate such worries with its decision to add Zhipu to its "entity list" in January, essentially cutting off the company from many of its U.S. suppliers.

Hong Kong investors may be less familiar with Zhipu, which harkens from Beijing. But that could soon change, following a recent Bloomberg report that the company is weighing a Hong Kong IPO that could raise around $300 million. Such a move would mark an abrupt shift after Zhipu previously began the process to list on one of China's A-share markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

LLM luminary

Founded in 2019 with a focus in foundational large language models (LLMs) that underpin generative AI, Zhipu grew from roots at Tsinghua University, China's leading sciences school, where it was set up by the pair of Tang Jie and Zhang Peng. The company was spun out as a separate entity and has ...