SINGAPORE/HONG KONG/BEIJING: MiniMax Group burst onto the Hong Kong's stock exchange on January 9 with a blockbuster debut, underscoring strong investor appetite for Chinese artificial intelligence startups with consumer-facing appeal.

Shares in MiniMax Group jumped as much as 78 percent on their first day of trading, making it the second of China's so-called "AI tigers" to list publicly and outpacing the earlier debut of rival Zhipu AI just a day earlier. MiniMax raised HK$4.8 billion (US$620 million) in its initial public offering, with proceeds earmarked for research and development.

The stock was last trading at HK$294 per share, well above its offer price of HK$165, valuing the company at roughly $11.6 billion. At one point during the session, shares touched a high of HK$299.

The strong debut followed Zhipu AI's solid performance a day earlier, when its shares climbed 13 percent on their first day of trading. Zhipu added to those gains on Friday, rising a further 15 percent.

"MiniMax's focus on the consumer market appealed more to investors seeking high-growth opportunities, whereas Zhipu's enterprise- and government-oriented model was perceived as more stable but less exciting in a market driven by hype," said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at tech research firm Omdia. Investors were also drawn to the performance of MiniMax's open-source foundation models in key benchmarks, he added.

Founded in early 2022 by former SenseTime executive Yan Junjie, Shanghai-based MiniMax develops multimodal artificial intelligence models capable of processing text, audio, images, video, and music. Its best-known products include Hailuo AI, a video-generation tool, and Talkie, an AI character interaction app that allows users to engage with virtual AI-powered personas.

"This is only the beginning," Yan said at the company's listing ceremony. "We look forward to the next four years, hoping the pace of technological progress in the AI industry will remain as fast."

MiniMax counts among its roster of high-profile cornerstone investors Alibaba, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Boyu Capital, and Mirae Asset, according to its IPO filings.

Zhipu AI, which OpenAI has flagged as a Chinese startup gaining traction in government contracts, raised HK$4.35 billion in its IPO and is currently valued at around $7.4 billion.

The twin listings highlight rising expectations for Chinese AI firms as global investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence remains strong. While China's most prominent AI company, DeepSeek, has yet to signal any IPO plans, a pipeline of potential listings is taking shape.

Huawei's AI server spin-off xFusion has hired Citic Securities in preparation for a mainland IPO, while memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies and Baidu's AI chip arm Kunlunxin are also planning public offerings. Meanwhile, semiconductor companies OmniVision Integrated Circuits and GigaDevice Semiconductor, both listed in Shanghai, are set to begin trading in Hong Kong next week following secondary offerings.