Last Fri., DeepSeek pushed a 4.1 update; while only a minor point release, the performance uplift is clear. Coupled with same-day headlines that DS plans to use Ascend for its next-gen pretraining and a ban issued by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, the recent DS newsflow has meaningful implications for the sector and the supply chain.

$Z.AI(02513.HK) $MINIMAX-W(00100.HK) core takeaways compiled. Core takeaways:

1. How is the model? V4.1-Flash-1017 is not a 'China beats Opus' narrative...

If 2025 was the DeepSeek year for China LLMs, calling 2026 the 'Zhipu Year' would not be a stretch. In 2026, shares surged early on amid the scarce domestic-model narrative of being 'China's Anthropic'.

H1 revenue was RMB 957 mn (+~400% YoY). The mix shifted, with open platform and API contributing 86.5% vs. 15.2%.

Against a persistently weak tape, Jun was a standout for Zhipu. News just before Jun about its Stock Connect inclusion sparked heavy flows and sharp intraday swings.

Up 6x in a single quarter, the investor darling and foundation-model poster child—Zhipu—has reported as well.

Straight to the point: 1) Revenue: API biz ARR reached RMB 250 mn in Mar.

Among domestic independent model vendors, $Z.AI(02513.HK) is a pure homegrown LLM player, with talent anchored in universities and a client base largely comprising the Gov. and SOEs on the B2B side.

Below is Dolphin Research's Trans of Zhipu's FY2025 earnings call.

1) Rapid revenue growth: FY2025 revenue reached RMB 724 mn (+132% YoY).

2) API ARR inflection: As of Mar 2026, API ARR reached $250 mn, up 60x over the past 12 months.

A deep dive into Minimax and Zhipu: are large language models, compute intensity, and funding stamina the decisive edge? In early 2026, near the third anniversary of ChatGPT's launch, two leading Chinese AI model startups $MINIMAX-W(00100.HK) and $Z.AI(02513.HK) listed at around $6bn valuations.

Both stocks rallied after listing, driving a broad-based surge across AI application names. Yet a close read of their financials shows seemingly endless losses. On one hand, a brutal global price war in LLMs is turning the stack increasingly into a commodity...