Kai-Fu Lee's AI startup 01.AI targets Hong Kong IPO by 2027

Kai-Fu Lee’s Beijing-based AI startup 01.AI plans to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2027, the company announced at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.

“Our target is 2027, after the fiscal year ends,” Lee said. The company’s fiscal year closes in December. 01.AI also intends to raise pre-IPO funds before publishing its first full-year financial results.

Founded in 2023, 01.AI crossed $1 billion in valuation within eight months. Its backers include Alibaba’s cloud computing division. The company is restructuring its offshore holding structure to comply with Hong Kong listing requirements, following a wave of Chinese AI companies looking to the city for public offerings.

Hong Kong’s special listing rules for tech companies allow AI firms to go public before turning a profit, provided they meet conditions such as operational history, sustained R&D investment, backing from professional investors, and a clear path to commercialization.

The IPO plans come after 01.AI shifted its business focus. The company originally built cutting-edge large language models but now develops AI infrastructure for enterprise clients. Lee said the company primarily fine-tunes open-source Chinese models — DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen, and Zhipu AI’s GLM — for customized deployments.

About half of 01.AI’s revenue now comes from markets outside China, Lee added.