Zhipu CEO Zhang Peng: Inside the IPO of China’s First Publicly Listed LLM Company

Description

On the eve of its IPO, Zhipu’s CEO Zhang Peng broke his right leg during a business trip. When he arrived at the interview, he was leaning on a pair of crutches. At the time, Zhipu’s listing date had not yet been finalized. The race with MiniMax for the title of “China’s first publicly listed large model company” was still ongoing, and the outcome remained uncertain. Zhang Peng mentioned a Western idiom—“break a leg”—a phrase that usually means wishing someone good luck. A few days later, the result became clear. Zhipu confirmed that it would debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 8, 2026, becoming China’s first publicly listed large model company—and, by extension, the world’s first public LLM company. At this singular moment, I sat down with Zhang Peng for this conversation. --- 上市前夕，智谱CEO张鹏在一次出差途中摔断伤了右腿。到达访谈地点时，他拄着一副拐杖。 当时，智谱的上市日期尚未明朗。它与MiniMax之间围绕“中国大模型第一股”的竞争仍在继续，结果并未尘埃落定。张鹏提到一句西方俚语：Break a leg（摔断一条腿），它通常意味着祝你好运。 几天之后，结果揭晓。 智谱确认于2026年1月8日登陆港交所，成为中国首家上市的大模型公司，这也意味着它将是“全球大模型第一股”。 在这个特殊的时刻，我与张鹏有了这场聊天。