Z.AI Plans US$5.0 Billion Fund-Raising to Fuel AI Expansion

By P.R. Venkat

China's Z.AI plans to raise over $5 billion through equity and debt to fund its artificial intelligence investments amid a global spending boom.

The company, whose AI models compete with those of OpenAI and Anthropic, plans to raise nearly 15.68 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to US$2.0 billion, through a share placement, and another US$3.01 billion via zero-coupon convertible bonds, Z.AI said Sunday.

Z.AI plans to issue 21.97 million new shares at HK$714 each, representing a 9.96% discount to its closing price of HK$793 on Friday.

Separately, the company also plans to issue zero-coupon convertible bonds due 2027. The bonds can be converted into about 26.37 million shares, with an initial conversion price of HK$892.50 a share, representing a premium of 12.6% over Friday's closing price.

The latest fund-raising by Z.AI, formerly known as Zhipu AI, comes less than two months after the company raised US$4.0 billion through a share placement in July.

Chinese AI companies are ramping up spending on computing infrastructure and large-language-model development as they compete with global players such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Businesses are also seeking to use generative AI to automate tasks and boost productivity.

Z.AI faces competition at home from companies including DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax, which are also investing heavily in large-language models.

The company said that rising demand for AI services and continued development of its next-generation language models have increased its need for computing capacity. The fund raising will also help broaden its shareholder base.

Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2026 20:00 ET (00:00 GMT)