Chinese artificial intelligence stocks rallied on Thursday after a wave of new model releases and renewed policy backing signaled intensifying competition in the sector and broader adoption across industries.
Hong Kong-listed Zhipu AI — which trades as Knowledge Atlas Technology — led gains, with its shares jumping sharply after unveiling its latest large-language model.
Other developers, including MiniMax, DeepSeek, and Ant Group, also introduced upgrades, boosting investor sentiment and lifting suppliers connected to the AI ecosystem.
The move comes as Chinese developers accelerate efforts to narrow the gap with US technology rivals.
Model launches spark investor interest
Zhipu AI surged about 30% after releasing GLM-5, an open-source large-language model designed for improved coding capabilities and long-running agent tasks.
The company said the model approaches Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.5 in coding benchmarks while surpassing Google’s Gemini 3 Pro on some tests.
MiniMax shares in Hong Kong climbed 14% following the launch of its updated M2.5 open-source model with enhanced AI agent tools.
The company described M2 as “a model built for Max coding & agentic workflows.”
DeepSeek, which gained global attention last year, upgraded its flagship model with a larger context window and more up-to-date knowledge, according to the South China Morning Post.
Ant Group also unveiled Ming-Flash-Omni 2.0, a “unified multimodal model” capable of generating speech, music, sound effects, and visuals.
The releases boosted related firms.
Shanghai-listed UCloud Tech, which provides computing support to Zhipu, rose 20% to its daily trading limit, while SenseTime — now focused on AI software platforms rather than surveillance technology — gained 5% in Hong Kong.
Policy support strengthens sentiment
Government backing further fueled the rally. Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday called for a comprehensive push to implement AI “in diverse scenarios to unlock the potential of the technology.”
Li also encouraged breakthroughs across the entire chain of the AI industry and urged the broad implementation of AI applications.
The policy messaging reinforced expectations that Beijing intends to accelerate commercialization and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies throughout the economy.
Market indicators reflected the improved sentiment.
The Shanghai STAR AI Industry Index rose as much as 2.4% before easing to a 1.7% gain, while the CSI AI Index also advanced.
Gains contrast with broader tech weakness
The rally in AI startups occurred even as China’s larger technology firms lagged.
Shares of Tencent and Alibaba fell 2.6% and 2.1%, respectively, and the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 1.7%.
Investors appear to be distinguishing between established internet platforms and emerging AI-focused companies, which are benefiting from new products, infrastructure demand, and supportive policy signals.
The recent developments highlight the speed at which China’s AI sector is evolving.
Multiple companies are racing to release advanced models, agent systems, and multimodal tools, while suppliers of computing infrastructure are also gaining attention from investors.
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