Diverging Growth Trajectories for Chinese AI Pioneers Z.ai and MiniMax

When two of China’s leading AI pioneers went public in Hong Kong in January, they pitched investors on a shared promise: capturing the explosive demand for artificial intelligence at home and abroad. Their first-half earnings, however, suggest that narrative could be splintering into two different trajectories.

Z.ai on Monday reported a nearly 400 per cent year-on-year surge in first-half revenue to 953.9 million yuan (US$142 million). By contrast, MiniMax’s revenue grew 283 per cent to US$116.6 million, according to its financial report released last week.

The commercial gap appeared even wider when measured by annual recurring revenue (ARR), a metric used by software companies to project 12-month revenue based on current monthly subscriptions.

Z.ai co-founder and chief scientist Tang Jie said during an earnings call that the company’s ARR had reached US$1.6 billion based on August’s results. MiniMax founder and CEO Yan Junjie, meanwhile, said its ARR had reached US$800 million in August – half that of Z.ai.

However, Yan later acknowledged in a private post-earnings call that MiniMax had calculated the figure by taking revenue from a single week in August and multiplying it by 52, according to a person familiar with the matter.