Stock Markets April 1, 2026

Zhipu AI Stock Jumps After Revenue More Than Doubles on Domestic Demand

Strong product demand lifts top line even as losses widen and margins contract

By Ajmal Hussain
Zhipu AI Stock Jumps After Revenue More Than Doubles on Domestic Demand

Shares of Zhipu AI (HK:2513) surged after the company reported 131.9% revenue growth for the year to December 31, 2025, driven by rising domestic demand and continued model development. On-premise deployments remained the largest revenue source, while cloud-based sales grew sharply but at lower margins. The company posted a widening net loss and a compressed gross margin despite the revenue gain.

Key Points

  • Revenue rose 131.9% to HK$724.3 million for the year to December 31, 2025, driven by domestic demand and continued model development - impacting technology and enterprise software sectors.
  • On-premise deployments made up 74% of revenue, while cloud-based deployments grew nearly 300% but with smaller margins - relevant to cloud services and enterprise IT spending.
  • Shares jumped as much as 35% to a record HK$938.0, amid a broader 2% gain in the Hang Seng - reflecting market sentiment in Chinese tech equities.

Market reaction

Shares of Zhipu AI - trading as Knowledge Atlas Tech Joint Stock (HK:2513) - rallied strongly on Wednesday following the release of annual results showing the company more than doubled revenue in 2025. The stock climbed as much as 35% to HK$938.0, marking a record intraday high, as Chinese technology stocks broadly advanced and the Hang Seng index rose 2%.


Revenue and deployment mix

For the 12 months ended December 31, 2025, Zhipu reported revenue of HK$724.3 million ($105.2 million), an increase of 131.9% from the prior year. The company attributed this top-line expansion primarily to strong domestic demand for its artificial intelligence offerings and ongoing iteration of new AI models.

Zhipu said on-premise deployments - where customers run AI models on their own servers - accounted for 74% of total revenue. Revenue from cloud-based deployments - engagements in which Zhipu does not host the model directly - rose nearly 300% year-on-year. The company noted that cloud deployments enable it to reach a larger customer base but come with materially lower margins compared with on-premise sales.


Profitability and margins

Despite robust revenue growth, Zhipu's profitability deteriorated. The firm's net loss widened by 60% to 4.7 billion yuan, and gross profit margin contracted over the period. The company highlighted strong price movement in its AI service offerings amid heightened demand for its open-source GLM models through 2025.


Adoption and ecosystem signals

Zhipu described its platform as gaining meaningful traction across the internet sector. The company said nine of China's top 10 internet companies are "deeply integrated" with GLM, and reported that its platform had surpassed 4 million registered users as of March 2026. Zhipu categorized itself among the cohort of leading domestic AI developers often described as the country's "AI tigers."


Third-party evaluation offering

The firm referenced a product called ProPicks AI that evaluates 2513 alongside thousands of other companies using more than 100 financial metrics. The description states that the AI highlights stocks by assessing fundamentals, momentum, and valuation, and that users can check whether 2513 appears in any ProPicks strategies or compare it with other opportunities in the sector.


Takeaway

Zhipu's results underscore a sharp expansion in revenue driven by model iteration and domestic demand, with on-premise deployments remaining the primary revenue driver while cloud services scale quickly at lower margins. At the same time, the company faces mounting losses and reduced gross margins as it grows.

Risks

  • Profitability deterioration - net loss widened 60% to 4.7 billion yuan and gross margins shrank, posing a risk to investor returns and valuation in the technology sector.
  • Margin pressure from a shift toward cloud deployments, which the company says allow broader customer reach but involve much smaller margins - affecting margins across cloud and SaaS-related offerings.
  • Concentration of revenue in on-premise deployments (74%) could expose the company to demand shifts in enterprise infrastructure spending and delivery model preferences.

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