Chinese AI firm Z.ai raises ARR outlook to US$3 billion

Chinese artificial intelligence developer Z.ai has raised its year-end annual recurring revenue (ARR) outlook by 25 per cent to US$3 billion, as the firm indicated its fresh US$5 billion war chest had helped clear its computing capacity bottlenecks for the time being.

The updated ARR projection, up from a previous estimate of about US$2.4 billion, was disclosed during an investor call on Wednesday, according to a transcript seen by the South China Morning Post.

Z.ai’s ARR – a key metric projecting a firm’s monthly subscription income over a 12-month period – had reached US$1.8 billion so far this year, executives said during the call. “In the short term, computing power supply is no longer the primary constraint on the company’s rapid revenue growth,” they added.