The “AI Gold Rush” in Hong Kong reached a fever pitch today as MiniMax Group officially listed on the Main Board. After pricing its shares at the top of the range at HK$165, the stock opened at HK$235.40 and continued to climb throughout the day, eventually closing at **HK$345**
At its closing price, MiniMax’s market capitalization surpassed HK$110 billion (approx. $14.1 billion), making it the most valuable independent AI foundation model company to go public globally in 2026.
The “Frenzy” by the Numbers
The MiniMax IPO was characterized by extraordinary demand from both retail and institutional investors, serving as a “litmus test” for whether investor enthusiasm could extend from hardware makers to AI software firms.
- Retail Oversubscription: The retail portion of the offering was oversubscribed by a staggering 1,837 times, triggering a heavy reallocation of shares.
- Capital Raised: The company raised approximately $619 million (HK$4.82 billion), which will be funneled into R&D and the training of its next-gen models over the next five years.
- Cornerstone Investors: A powerhouse lineup including Alibaba, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), GIC (Singapore), and Mirae Asset anchored the deal, providing long-term institutional stability.
- Fastest IPO: Established in December 2021, MiniMax set a global record as the fastest AI company to go from founding to a successful public listing (just over 4 years).
Who is MiniMax?
Founded by former SenseTime executive Yan Junjie, MiniMax has quickly become China’s answer to OpenAI and Anthropic. Unlike its hardware-focused rivals, MiniMax specializes in multimodal general-purpose models—AI that can process and generate text, audio, images, and video simultaneously.
Key Products:
- Talkie: A globally popular AI companion app with over 212 million individual users as of late 2025.
- Hailuo AI: A specialized productivity and creative assistant built on their latest models.
- MiniMax M2 & Speech 02: Flagship models that support both high-end consumer apps and enterprise-grade APIs.
Why the Market is Bullish
Investors are betting on MiniMax’s unique efficiency. According to its prospectus, MiniMax achieved a 5% performance gap with top-tier U.S. models while spending only 1% of the training cost, thanks to its proprietary “Lightning Attention” architecture.
Furthermore, with roughly 70% of its proceeds earmarked for R&D and AI infrastructure, MiniMax is positioning itself to lead the “Intelligence for Everyone” era.
Comparison: The 2026 AI IPO Wave
| Company | Debut Date | Listing Day Change | Valuation (at Peak) |
| MiniMax | Jan 9, 2026 | +109% | $14.1 Billion |
| Biren Technology | Jan 2, 2026 | +76% | $8.5 Billion |
| Zhipu AI | Jan 8, 2026 | +13% | $9.0 Billion |
