东吴证券:智谱从清华实验室到港股AI新贵 关注模型迭代与生态飞轮
Zhi Tong Cai Jing·2026-01-08 08:52

Core Viewpoint - Dongwu Securities expresses optimism about Zhipu AI's strengths in local model technology, open-source ecosystem, and local implementation capabilities, anticipating stable growth in local business and cloud services as the main growth driver, suggesting to pay attention to the company [1] Company Overview - Zhipu AI, established in 2019, is a leading independent general large model developer in China, originating from Tsinghua University's Knowledge Engineering Group (KEG) [1] - The company has developed its own GLM (General Language Model) pre-training framework, which differs from mainstream GPT architectures, offering unique advantages in long text understanding, logical reasoning, and low hallucination rates [1] - Zhipu AI follows a dual strategy of open-source and commercialization, creating a comprehensive model matrix covering language, multimodal, code, and intelligent agent fields, with flagship products GLM-4.5 and GLM-4.7 ranking high in international benchmark tests [1] Market Position - According to Frost & Sullivan data, Zhipu AI ranks first among independent general large model developers in China and second overall, with a market share of 6.6% as of 2024 [2] - By mid-2025, the company has served over 8,000 institutional clients, with 9 out of the top 10 internet companies in China using GLM models [2] - The global download volume of open-source models exceeds 45 million, with over 2.7 million registered developers on the MaaS platform, and daily token consumption reaching 4.2 trillion by November 2025 [2] Business Model - The business model centers around the MaaS (Model as a Service) platform, driven by both localized and cloud deployments [3] - Localized deployment targets government and enterprise clients, providing private operation and customization services, accounting for 84.8% of revenue in the first half of 2025 with a gross margin of 59% [3] - Cloud deployment, through API calls and subscription services, is rapidly growing, making up 15.2% of revenue in the first half of 2025, with a focus on increasing API revenue share in the long term [3] Financial Performance - Historical financial performance shows high revenue growth, with revenues of 0.57 million, 1.25 million, and 3.12 million yuan from 2022 to 2024, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of over 130% [3] - In the first half of 2025, revenue reached 1.91 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 325%, surpassing the total revenue for 2023 [3] IPO Details - The IPO price is set at 116.20 HKD per share, with a global offering of 37.42 million H shares, raising approximately 4.3 billion HKD, leading to a market capitalization of about 51.1 billion HKD post-funding [4] - The raised funds will primarily enhance general large model research (about 70%), optimize the MaaS platform infrastructure (about 10%), expand ecosystem cooperation and strategic investments (about 10%), and supplement working capital [4] - Key investors include prominent institutions such as Shanghai Gao Yi, GF Fund, and Taikang Life, with the founding team controlling about 33% of shares through a concerted action agreement [4] Competitive Advantages - The company's core competitive advantages lie in its full-stack self-research technology system, leading model performance, open-source ecosystem, and deep adaptation to domestic computing power [4] - The R&D personnel account for 74%, with a core team from Tsinghua KEG, possessing deep academic accumulation in natural language processing [4] - The rapid iteration of the GLM series, particularly GLM-4.7, shows strong performance in programming scenarios, while AutoGLM enables AI to autonomously operate smartphones and computer GUIs, marking a new paradigm for agents [4] Revenue Forecast - Revenue projections for 2025-2027 are estimated at 790 million (up 151%), 1.55 billion (up 97%), and 3.22 billion (up 108%), with a gradual shift from localized to cloud-dominated revenue structure [5] - The overall gross margin is expected to reach 50% in 2025, stabilizing around 51% in 2026-2027, with cloud gross margins improving from low levels to 40% [5] - The valuation for Zhipu AI in 2026 is projected at a PS ratio of 30 times, higher than comparable companies, but with significant room for compression as revenue grows rapidly [5]

SCS-东吴证券:智谱从清华实验室到港股AI新贵 关注模型迭代与生态飞轮 - Reportify