Weekly summary of Chinese economy and technology: Chinese LLM companies are planning IPOs, Nvidia has chosen a Chinese LiDAR company, and BYD and Xiaomi have entered the top 4.

Welcome back to China Insights Weekly. Here are the key highlights of the week:

• Shanghai stocks hit a ten-year high, driven by gains in the insurance and technology sectors.
• China dominates the humanoid robot market, with domestic manufacturers accounting for the majority of global supply.
• Clone-hybrid rice breaks yield limits, with seed properties now self-replicating.
• Supercritical CO₂ energy enters the commercial phase, converting waste heat into electricity for the grid.

Top Stories

Zhipu AI surges in Hong Kong IPO, becoming the first major LLM to go public; MiniMax follows a day later

Zhipu AI, a Chinese startup and the first major large language model (LLM) company to go public, saw its shares rise by 12.4% on its first day of trading in Hong Kong, closing at a price of HKD 130.60 (USD 16.76) per share. This gave the company a market capitalization of HKD 57.5 billion. The initial public offering (IPO) was heavily oversubscribed: Hong Kong investors oversubscribed it by a factor of 1159.5, and international investors by a factor of 15.3. The company raised over HKD 4.3 billion (USD 552 million). Zhipu AI plans to invest 70% of the net proceeds from the IPO in research and development of general-purpose artificial intelligence models and 10% in optimizing its Model-as-a-Service platform.

A day later, on January 9th, MiniMax, backed by the Chinese gaming developer MiHoYo, also made a strong debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The shares rose by more than 70%, briefly pushing the company's market capitalization above HKD 90 billion (USD 11.5 billion). The company, founded by former SenseTime vice president Yan Junjie, priced its IPO at HKD 165 per share and grossed proceeds of HKD 5.54 billion (USD 710 million). The offering was heavily oversubscribed: the public portion in Hong Kong was 1837 times oversubscribed, and the international placement was covered 37 times. The company focuses on foundational AI models and applications, and plans to use the IPO proceeds to improve large language models and develop AI-native products.

With the IPO of MiniMax, five AI companies from Shanghai completed a primary public offering within a single month, including Biren Technology, MetaX, Insilico Medicine, and Iluvatar CoreX, covering areas ranging from graphics processors to AI-powered drug discovery.

U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia has chosen Hesai, a Chinese company, for lidar sensors in its Hyperion autonomous driving platform.

Hesai Group, the world's largest manufacturer of lidar sensors for vehicles, has partnered with Nvidia and will supply lidar sensors for the Nvidia Drive Hyperion platform, designed for Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving. Hesai's sensors, ready for mass production, will support the platform, which includes a system-on-a-chip and a safety-certified operating system. This collaboration is expected to accelerate Hesai's global expansion. The company plans to double its production capacity to 4 million units per year by 2026 to meet demand. This partnership and expansion come at a time when China has approved the mass production of L3-level vehicles, and up to 300,000 autonomous L4-level taxis are expected in China's largest cities by 2030.

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Chongqing and Hefei lead Chinese automobile manufacturing; BYD and Xiaomi enter the global top 4 in market capitalization.

Chongqing led Chinese automobile production from January to November with nearly 2.5 million vehicles manufactured, a 12% year-on-year increase. Hefei ranked first in the production of new energy vehicles (NEVs) with 1.2 million units, an 11% year-on-year increase. The total automobile production in Anhui province reached 3.3 million vehicles, of which 1.6 million were NEVs. Hefei's industrial strategy has attracted major players such as JAC Motors, Nio, Volkswagen Anhui, BYD, and Changan Auto, creating a dense NEV manufacturing cluster. Other cities are also experiencing growth. Liuzhou in Guangxi province saw a 38% increase in vehicle production in the first nine months of the year, driven primarily by micro-mobility electric vehicles.

In 2025, there were significant shifts in the global automotive market: Xiaomi and BYD ranked third and fourth, respectively, in terms of market capitalization. Tesla remained the largest automaker by market capitalization, followed by Toyota. Porsche dropped out of the top ten, while BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen improved their positions. Xiaomi delivered over 410,000 vehicles, and BYD sold 4.602 million new energy vehicles in 2025. Of the fifty largest global automakers by market capitalization, 19 were Chinese, including Seres Group at number 18, Great Wall Motor at number 20, SAIC Motor at number 21, Geely Automobile at number 22, and Chery Automobile at number 24.

Shanghai stock market reaches ten-year high, driven by insurance sector

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 4083.67 points on January 6, 2026, the highest level since July 2015. The growth was led by insurance stocks, which rose by 6.7% and 4.2% respectively in the first two trading days of the year. New China Life Insurance and China Pacific Insurance both reached record highs on both days. The Shenzhen Component Index rose by 1.4% to 14,022.55 points, the highest closing since January 2022, while the ChiNext Index rose by 0.8% to 3319.29 points. Goldman Sachs expects continued growth in the Chinese stock market, with annual gains of 15 to 20% over the next two years, driven by earnings growth and higher valuations. Last year saw strong investor interest in technology stocks: the Shanghai Composite rose by 18%, the Shenzhen Component by 30%, and the ChiNext by 50%.

Chinese firms outpace US rivals in 2025 humanoid robot shipments, AgiBot leads with 38% market share

In 2025, the Chinese robotics company AgiBot led global shipments of humanoid robots, holding a 38% market share and delivering 5,168 units. This surpassed major American players like Tesla, which delivered 150 units and held only 1% of the market. According to Omdia, five other Chinese companies made it into the top ten, with Unitree Robotics taking second place with a 32% share and 4,200 units shipped. UBTech Robotics from Shenzhen came in third with 1,000 units. Global shipments increased by nearly 480% to 13,318 units, and are projected to reach 2.6 million by 2035. Chinese manufacturers are setting the standards in mass production. This growth is attributed to favorable policies, infrastructure support, and investments from both the public and private sectors.

Tomáš Kučera & Yereth Jansen

China-insights.com/gnews.cz – GH