China's 'Six Tigers' of AI

Zhipu AI: The Academic Powerhouse

Zhipu AI, founded in 2019, has a strong foundation in academia, originating from the renowned Tsinghua University. Established by two professors, it distinguishes itself as one of China’s pioneering generative-AI startups. This Beijing-based company is not merely developing applications; it’s constructing the foundational elements. Zhipu AI concentrates on developing foundation models that serve as the backbone for a variety of applications.

Among its significant creations is ChatGLM, a conversational chatbot engineered to interact with users in a natural and intuitive manner. Another innovative product is Ying, an AI video generator that extends the possibilities of visual content creation.

Zhipu’s dedication to innovation is clear in its ongoing model development. In August, the company introduced the GLM-4-Plus model, asserting its performance was comparable to OpenAI’s GPT-4o. This sophisticated model leverages high-quality synthetic data for training, allowing it to process extensive amounts of text with exceptional efficiency. The company is also advancing in speech models, having released GLM-4-Voice, an end-to-end speech model exhibiting human-like speech characteristics, including subtle intonation and dialect. This model enables real-time voice conversations, smoothly transitioning between Chinese and English.

However, Zhipu AI’s path has encountered obstacles. In January, the outgoing Biden administration included Zhipu on its restricted trade list, alongside over 20 other Chinese companies, due to concerns about potential contributions to China’s military. Despite this challenge, Zhipu AI continues to secure substantial investment. A recent funding round earlier this month saw the company raise over one billion yuan (approximately $140 million), with participation from industry giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and several state-backed organizations.

Moonshot AI: The Chatbot Champion

Originating from Tsinghua University in 2023, Moonshot AI represents a more recent, yet equally determined, player in China’s AI sector. Founded by Yang Zhilin, an AI researcher with experience at both Tsinghua and Carnegie Mellon University, Moonshot AI has rapidly gained recognition.

The company’s primary product, the Kimi AI chatbot, has secured a considerable market share. It’s acknowledged as one of China’s top five AI chatbots, with nearly 13 million monthly active users as of November, according to Counterpoint Research. Kimi’s capabilities are noteworthy, particularly its ability to handle queries containing up to two million Chinese characters, demonstrating its robust natural language processing capabilities.

Moonshot AI’s swift expansion has been supported by significant backing from some of China’s largest tech corporations. With a valuation of $3.3 billion, the company benefits from the support of investors such as Alibaba and Tencent, providing both financial resources and strategic collaborations.

MiniMax: The Versatile Innovator

Established in 2021 by AI researcher and developer Yan Junjie, MiniMax has established a distinct position for itself by concentrating on interactive and captivating AI experiences. The company is the developer of Talkie, a widely used AI chatbot that has undergone substantial evolution since its initial release. Originally launched as Glow in 2022, the app underwent enhancements and rebranding, becoming Xingye in China and Talkie in international markets.

Talkie provides a distinctive user experience, enabling users to engage with a wide array of characters, including celebrities and fictional personalities. This emphasis on engaging content has connected with users, although the app experienced a temporary setback in December when it was removed from the U.S. Apple App Store, reportedly due to “technical reasons,” as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Beyond chatbots, MiniMax has also expanded into the domain of video generation. The Shanghai-based company created Hailuo AI, a text-to-video AI generator, showcasing its adaptability and dedication to exploring various aspects of AI technology. MiniMax’s innovation has drawn considerable investment. In March, Alibaba spearheaded a $600 million funding round for the company, leading to a valuation of $2.5 billion, reinforcing its status as a significant player in the AI field.

Baichuan Intelligence: The Open-Source Pioneer

Baichuan Intelligence, established in March 2023, distinguishes itself through its dedication to open-source development. The company’s team includes individuals with experience from Microsoft and Chinese tech giants like Huawei, Baidu, and Tencent, bringing together a diverse range of expertise.

The Beijing-based firm has made notable contributions to the open-source community by releasing two large language models: Baichuan-7B and Baichuan-13B. These models, made available in 2023, are commercially accessible in China and have undergone extensive testing across various fields. They have been assessed on datasets covering general knowledge, mathematics, coding, language translation, law, and medicine, demonstrating their wide-ranging applicability.

Baichuan Intelligence’s commitment to open-source principles has not impeded its ability to secure investment. In July, the company obtained five billion yuan (approximately $687.6 million) in a funding round that valued the company at over 20 billion yuan. The list of investors included prominent names like Alibaba, Tencent, and several state-backed funds, underscoring the confidence in Baichuan’s approach.

StepFun: The Multimodal Maestro

StepFun, founded in 2023, sets itself apart through its emphasis on multimodal AI systems. Established by Jiang Daxin, a former senior vice president at Microsoft, the Shanghai-based company has swiftly created a varied collection of foundation models.

StepFun has launched an impressive eleven foundation models, encompassing visual, audio, and multimodal AI capabilities. This extensive expertise positions the company as a frontrunner in developing AI systems that can comprehend and interact with the world in a more holistic manner.

The company’s Step-2 language model is particularly significant, boasting one trillion parameters. It’s ranked among competing models from industry leaders like DeepSeek, Alibaba, and OpenAI on LiveBench, a platform for benchmarking large language models. This demonstrates StepFun’s capability to compete at the highest level of AI development.

StepFun’s advancement has been bolstered by strategic investments. In December, Fortera Capital, a state-owned private equity firm, played a crucial role in assisting StepFun in raising “hundreds of millions of dollars” in Series B funding, providing the company with the resources to pursue its ambitious development plans.

01.AI: The Veteran-Led Visionary

01.AI, founded in 2023 by Kai-Fu Lee, a veteran of Apple, Microsoft, and Google, brings a wealth of experience and a bold vision to the AI landscape. The Beijing-based company has quickly established itself as a significant player, launching two important models: Yi-Lightning and Yi-Large.

Both of these models are open-source, reflecting 01.AI’s commitment to collaborative development. They are also ranked among the top-performing large language models globally, excelling in areas such as language understanding, reasoning, and comprehension.

The Yi-Lightning model is particularly notable for its efficiency. Lee highlighted on LinkedIn that Yi-Lightning was trained using a relatively small number of Nvidia’s H100 chips (2,000) for a month, significantly fewer than those used to train xAI’s Grok 2, yet achieved comparable performance. This demonstrates 01.AI’s focus on optimizing resource utilization. The Yi-Large model, on the other hand, is designed for engaging in human-like conversations, seamlessly handling both English and Chinese, showcasing its versatility and global applicability.

Further details on each company:

Zhipu AI:

• Focus: Building foundation models, not just applications.
• Key Products: ChatGLM (chatbot), Ying (AI video generator), GLM-4-Plus (advanced model), GLM-4-Voice (speech model).
• Strengths: Strong academic background, continuous model development, high-quality synthetic data training.
• Challenges: Inclusion on U.S. restricted trade list.
• Funding: Over $140 million in recent funding, with participation from Alibaba, Tencent, and state-backed entities.

Moonshot AI:

• Focus: Chatbot development and market share.
• Key Product: Kimi AI chatbot (one of China’s top 5).
• Strengths: Robust natural language processing, ability to process long queries (up to 2 million Chinese characters).
• Funding: $3.3 billion valuation, backed by Alibaba and Tencent.

MiniMax:

• Focus: Interactive and engaging AI experiences, including chatbots and video generation.
• Key Products: Talkie (AI chatbot with diverse characters), Hailuo AI (text-to-video generator).
• Strengths: User engagement, versatility in AI applications.
• Challenges: Temporary removal of Talkie from U.S. App Store.
• Funding: $2.5 billion valuation, with Alibaba leading a $600 million funding round.

Baichuan Intelligence:

• Focus: Open-source large language model development.
• Key Products: Baichuan-7B and Baichuan-13B (open-source LLMs).
• Strengths: Commitment to open-source, broad applicability across various domains.
• Funding: Secured $687.6 million, valued at over 20 billion yuan, with investors including Alibaba, Tencent, and state-backed funds.

StepFun:

• Focus: Multimodal AI systems (visual, audio, and multimodal).
• Key Products: Eleven foundation models, including the Step-2 language model (one trillion parameters).
• Strengths: Breadth of expertise in multimodal AI, high-performing language model.
• Funding: “Hundreds of millions of dollars” in Series B funding, supported by Fortera Capital.

01.AI:

• Focus: Open-source, high-performing large language models, efficient training.
• Key Products: Yi-Lightning and Yi-Large (open-source LLMs).
• Strengths: Experienced leadership (Kai-Fu Lee), efficient model training, strong performance in language understanding and reasoning.
• Funding: While specific funding details are not provided in the original text, 01.AI’s rapid progress and high-profile founder suggest significant backing. The company’s ability to train a competitive model with relatively few resources also indicates strong financial and technical capabilities.

These six companies represent a diverse and dynamic landscape of AI innovation in China. They are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI, from foundational models to user-facing applications, and are poised to play an increasingly important role in the global AI ecosystem. Their commitment to both open-source development and commercial success, combined with strong backing from both private and state-backed entities, positions them as formidable competitors in the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence. The blend of academic rigor, industry experience, and a focus on both foundational research and practical applications makes these ‘Six Tigers’ a force to be reckoned with.