The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) is reportedly set to anchor the USD 600 mn Hong Kong IPO of Chinese AI startup MiniMax, alongside China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Why MiniMax: Founded in 2022 by a former SenseTime executive, MiniMax is one of the few survivors of China’s generative-AI price war and among the first domestic GenAI players to test public markets.

What it does: The company builds multimodal models spanning text, audio, images, video, and music, pitching itself as a full-stack AI platform rather than a single-use model provider. It generated USD 30.5 mn in revenue last year, offering investors relatively clean exposure to China’s AI buildout.

IPO mechanics: The company is targeting a valuation north of USD 4 bn, Reuters previously reported. Investor orders could open as early as this week ahead of a January debut, with cornerstone demand expected from Hong Kong-headquartered IDG Capital, China’s Perseverance Asset Management, and South Korean firm Mirae Asset, according to Bloomberg.

Zoom out

The transaction fits Adia’s widening exposure across the AI stack: As we previously reported, an Adia subsidiary and Singapore’s GIC wrapped up a USD 1.6 bn equity investment in Vantage Data Centers last month, scaling hyperscale capacity across Asia to roughly 1 GW.

The bigger signal

This also lines up with a rotation we’ve been tracking — global capital moving into ChineseAI on cheaper valuations and power advantages, as scrutiny intensifies around the cost curve and returns of US-led AI spending. However, the UAE’s AI ties to China have recently been somewhat thorny after the supply of US Nvidia chips to state AI firm G42 was contingent on severing ties with Chinese tech firms and divesting from Huawei.

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