MiniMax is set to see its first ever share opening on July 9 following its IPO. The company is a China-based artificial intelligence startup whose value has more than doubled from its Hong Kong debut last January. The two major strategic investors, Alibaba and Mihuyu, have claimed that they will not sell any shares, based on a report from Cai Lian Shi (Financial Associated Press) on June 22.
The pledge came at a time when China’s artificial intelligence industry is growing rapidly and receiving funding that would have been unimaginable just two years ago. MiniMax currently has an estimated user base of 300 million users worldwide and over 1 million enterprise developers. The decision by two of China’s largest technology companies to retain their stakes in MiniMax rather than cash out after a 400% raise highlights growing confidence in domestic AI infrastructure and the long-term potential of China’s domestic AI ecosystem.
What a Minimax Lock entails
The July 9 opening relates to restrictions on pre-stock shares.Shareholders in the IPO Their imprisonment periods end on the same day. MiniMax’s founders took the initiative to reserve their shares for 12 months, twice the required period, meaning their shares and those held by employees would still be subject to restrictions, says Cai Lian She.
According to Cai Lian She, Alibaba viewed its acquisition of the company’s shares as an opportunity to capitalize on the broader revolution in which artificial general intelligence (AGI) is expected to play. It said it plans to strengthen its cooperation with MiniMax in the field of cloud computing and enterprise services. According to miHoYo, the Shanghai-based video game developer behind Genshin Impact, AGI represents “the most important technology force of the next decade” and said its investment thesis aligns with MiniMax’s full-scale approach to multimodal AI.
The edge of artificial intelligence in China: speed, scale and cost
From disclosures made by Minimax, comments made by the founder and reported by Chinese media, and reports from Reuters about the company’s growth strategy, China’s strengths in AI R&D lie in… Three main areaswhich includes speed, size and cost.
speed. Chinese AI companies are focusing on quickly launching and commercializing products. According to comments made by the MiniMax founder, the company is keen to maintain the pace of model development and product deployment. The company has assured investors of rapid expansion and diversification of its products following strong revenue growth in 2025.
size. AI developers in China have the advantage of having large user bases domestically and a wide range of application ecosystems. MiniMax has expressed ambitions to become a world-class AI platform company and has diversified its business from basic models to applications, including Talkie and Hailuo AI, as well as products for enterprises to test and monetize products at scale. Reuters also noted that Chinese companies compete fiercely with companies such as Deep Sick And Zhipu is in the fast-growing domestic market.
It costs. Reductions in the cost of inference and deployment have become a crucial competitive topic among Chinese model makers. MiniMax has emphasized efficiency-oriented architectures and open models that promise lower computing costs, while Chinese AI companies have generally positioned themselves to provide high-performance systems at a lower cost than those offered by leading Western competitors.
Third-party analyzes highlighted MiniMax’s pricing advantage, with one comparison estimating M2.5 input costs at $0.15 per million tokens versus roughly $5 per million tokens for Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6. Several technology publications have reported that the cost of training MiniMax’s M1 is only about $534,700, which is much lower than estimates for training GPT-4 class models. One article described this as “200 times less” Of the estimated training cost for GPT-4o.
Dual listing and STAR market strategy
MiniMax has no intention of stopping in Hong Kong. According to Reuters, MiniMax filed a listing prospectus for Class A shares with the securities authorities in Shanghai on May 29, with CITIC Securities as its sponsor, in exchange for… Listing on Star Market. By listing in both Hong Kong and the mainland, MiniMax will be able to reach mainland Chinese investors, who traditionally allocate a premium to technology stocks compared to those listed in Hong Kong.
MiniMax competes with Zhipu AI for excellence in becoming The first major Chinese company for large language models In the A-share market, according to Nikkei Asia. Both companies face heavy capital spending requirements to remain competitive in the AI race, making access to local capital markets a strategic priority rather than an exercise in vanity, Nikkei noted.
Cryptopolitan has previously reported on how China’s regulatory environment, once seen as a drag on the technology sector, has shifted toward actively supporting AI development. STAR Marketplace’s role as a destination for AI listings reflects this axis.
What are you watching?
MiniMax introduced its next-generation flagship model, the M3, with a contextual window containing 1 million icons and native multimedia capabilities in early June 2026, according to Cai Lian She. The company is still making losses, with a net loss of $1.87 billion in 2025, but most of it was due to changes in the value of financial assets and… Not because of running cash burnAccording to Reuters.
The July 9 opening will prove investors’ belief or disbelief regarding the confidence of Alibaba and miHoYo. Annual recurring revenue of more than $300 million at a $33 billion valuation means a price-to-revenue ratio of more than 100x, according to CryptoBriefing. It will be interesting to see how quickly/slowly the STAR Market app is processed by the Chinese authorities.
