Z.ai shares jumped after the Chinese AI company revealed that its new GLM-5.3-Flash model had been running on domestically produced chips. The launch highlights China's push to reduce reliance on advanced U.S. semiconductors.
Shares of Chinese artificial intelligence company Z.ai jumped on Thursday after the company revealed that its latest AI model had been running entirely on domestically produced chips, highlighting China's progress in developing an alternative AI computing ecosystem.
Z.ai's shares closed more than 12% higher at HK$1,160 in Hong Kong, according to the South China Morning Post, after the company launched its new GLM-5.3-Flash model.
The model was previously tested anonymously under the name Ox Alpha, attracting significant attention after becoming one of the most-used AI models on OpenRouter. Z.ai said the model processed 62 trillion tokens during its trial period, while more than 11 trillion tokens were processed during its first three days on OpenRouter.
Z.ai said GLM-5.3-Flash was served using a large cluster of 100,000 Chinese-made AI chips. The company described the deployment as evidence that domestic hardware can support large-scale AI inference workloads.
The development comes as Chinese technology companies seek to reduce their dependence on advanced processors from U.S. chipmakers, particularly Nvidia, amid Washington's export restrictions on sophisticated AI semiconductors.
The model's performance has also drawn attention outside China. During its anonymous trial, Ox Alpha rose to the top of OpenRouter's coding-model rankings, accounting for nearly 31% of the platform's weekly coding-model token volume at one point.
The development comes alongside strong results from another Chinese AI company, MiniMax, underscoring the rapid expansion of China's AI sector. MiniMax reported that first-half revenue jumped 283.1% year on year to $116.6 million, driven by growing demand for its lower-cost AI models and platforms. Revenue from its Open Platform and other AI-based enterprise services increased more than sevenfold to $73.9 million.
MiniMax remains loss-making, although its first-half attributable loss narrowed to $358 million from $402.2 million a year earlier.
Together, the developments at Z.ai and MiniMax highlight two important trends in China's AI industry: rising demand for lower-cost AI services and increasing efforts to build models that can operate on domestic computing infrastructure.
For investors, the developments provide another indication that China's AI companies are continuing to expand despite restrictions on access to some of the world's most advanced AI chips.
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