The share moves came as JPMorgan reportedly<\/a> maintained its overweight rating on the company and raised the target price to HK$1,400 from HK$950, citing the firm’s model visibility and what the bank sees as pricing power in a fiercely contested market. It simultaneously downgraded its domestic rival MiniMax<\/a>, per a Bloomberg report.<\/p>\n MiniMax shares rose 7.4% on Monday. <\/p>\n Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Zhipu, MiniMax<\/p>\n Separately, Bank of America<\/a> analysts on Monday initiated coverage with “buy” ratings on the pair, setting targets of 1,250 Hong Kong dollars for Zhipu and 500 Hong Kong dollars for MiniMax. <\/p>\n The assessment came after the Trump administration on Friday ordered Anthropic to suspend access to its most advanced AI models<\/a>, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for any foreign national, including Anthropic’s own non-citizen employees, over national security concerns. <\/p>\n On the same day, Zhipu announced GLM-5.2<\/a>, its latest and most capable open-source large model, would be released as open-source software this week with no usage restrictions. <\/p>\n Zhipu appeared to frame the release as a direct rejoinder to Washington’s intervention. “Cutting-edge intelligence should not belong to only a few, nor should it be withdrawn at any time,” the company said<\/a>. “It should be open, available, extensible and built to serve every developer.” <\/p>\n Preliminary community feedback indicated GLM-5.2 performs comparably to Claude Opus 4.7 in coding and long-horizon agentic tasks, according to Ellie Jiang, head of Asia internet and media research at Macquarie Capital. <\/p>\n The latest launch will likely strengthen Zhipu’s pricing power in subsequent subscription plans, further boosting revenue, Jiang added, maintaining an “outperform” rating with a target price at 1,221.4 Hong Kong dollars. <\/p>\n While U.S. developers face mounting pressure to restrict frontier access, Chinese players have leaned into open distribution, drawing demand particularly from cost-sensitive enterprise users. <\/p>\n China is positioned to capture a substantial share of the global AI market within the “value-for-money” segment, with Chinese models gaining traction as “cheap-and-capable performers” as U.S. pricing for frontier models rises, according to BofA analysts. <\/p>\n Zhipu raised cloud API prices by 8% to 17% alongside its GLM-5.1 launch in April, its second hike this year, responding to surging demand for AI services as well as pressure from investors to begin delivering on profits. <\/p>\n The Anthropic curbs have also revived debates around AI talent race between the U.S. and China. <\/p>\n Peter Alexander, Z-Ben Advisors managing director, estimated that around 40% of U.S.-based AI engineers were born in China, and that the latest directive effectively bars many of those individuals from accessing the systems they helped build. <\/p>\n “The very individuals who were responsible, perhaps not in whole but crucial, for creating the most powerful AI models in the world are now persona non grata,” Alexander said in a note Monday, warning of potential “brain flight” toward Chinese AI companies, such as DeepSeek and Moonshot AI. <\/p>\n Zhipu’s shares have surged more than tenfold since its initial public offering in January, buoyed by increasing optimism over China’s position in AI. MiniMax, which also went public<\/a> at the start of the year, has not matched that trajectory, as investors have assigned it a steeper discount. <\/p>\n Zhipu’s market capitalization stood at HK$489 billion as of Monday, nearly four times larger than MiniMax’s HK$124.2 billion. Zhipu and MiniMax are both planning a listing on China’s Nasdaq-like STAR Market in Shanghai. <\/p>\n “Zhipu’s premium reflects faster ARR [annual recurring revenue] growth, stronger talent density [and] public backing, and its lead in enterprise revenue exposure,” BofA analysts said. <\/p>\n The Wall Street bank considers MiniMax a potential catch-up trade, as its estimated price-to-sales multiple compares favorably to Zhipu’s, as the gap is currently too wide given MiniMax’s product breadth. <\/p>\n![\"hide](\"https:\/\/static-redesign.cnbcfm.com\/dist\/a54b41835a8b60db28c2.svg\")
<\/p>\n![\"OpenAI](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/108318999-17810259061781025902-46443545831-1080pnbcnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\n