By Jiahui Huang

Artificial-intelligence startup MiniMax is seeking to list in mainland China, becoming the latest to tap China's capital markets as investors pour money into the country's fast-growing race to build alternatives to U.S. AI models.

The Shanghai-based company said Sunday in a stock exchange filing that it plans to issue yuan-denominated shares and has engaged advisers for a proposed listing on Shanghai's STAR market, a Nasdaq-like board with a focus on technology companies.

Separately, MiniMax signed a listing-guidance agreement with Citic Securities and completed the required filing with the Shanghai bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, according to a CSRC statement on Saturday.

The move underscores how China's leading AI companies are tapping domestic capital markets to fund their heavy computing and research spending in the country's rapidly evolving AI race.

The fundraising push comes as MiniMax's business has expanded rapidly. The startup's annual recurring revenue doubled between February and April and could top $1 billion by the end of the year, Jefferies analysts said in a note.

Investor enthusiasm for the company has grown. Hang Seng Indexes said last month that MiniMax would be added to the Hang Seng Tech Index, effective June 8.

MiniMax's move follows a similar path taken by rival AI startup Knowledge Atlas Technology, known as Zhipu AI, which in February hired Guotai Haitong Securities and China International Capital Corp. as advisers for a proposed STAR Market listing.

Investors are increasingly channeling capital into China's AI sector, betting that advances by domestic developers could narrow the technology gap with U.S. rivals while benefiting from significantly lower deployment costs.

Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 31, 2026 21:31 ET (01:31 GMT)

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