Illustration: AI-generated · Inside China AI
MiniMax: The Most International of China’s AI Tigers
Company profile · figures as of March 2026. Part of Companies & Startups.
MiniMax 稀宇科技 · Founded 2021, Shanghai · CEO Yan Junjie · Listed HKEX: 00100 (January 2026) · Foundation models, AI agents, video and audio generation
MiniMax builds multimodal AI models and consumer applications. Its M2.5 foundation model powers a suite of products spanning text, video, speech and music generation. MiniMax is one of China’s “AI Tigers” — the new generation of LLM start-ups challenging both domestic incumbents and US leaders.
Key products
- M2.5 Mixture-of-experts model, 229B parameters, ~10B active per request. Rivals Claude and GPT-4 at a fraction of the cost.
- Hailuo AI Video-generation platform. 5.6M monthly active users, 600M+ videos generated.
- Talkie / Xingye AI character-interaction app. 236M+ cumulative users across 200+ countries.
- MaxClaw Cloud-based AI agent built on OpenClaw. Deploys in under 10 seconds, no infrastructure.
- MiniMax Audio Text-to-speech in 40+ languages.
Key numbers
- Revenue $79M (+159% year on year)
- International revenue share 70%+
- Users 236M+ across 200+ countries
- Enterprise clients 214,000+
- Gross margin 25.4%
- Adjusted net loss $251M
- Stock since IPO +600%
Why MiniMax matters
MiniMax is the most internationally oriented of China’s AI Tigers. With 70% of revenue from overseas and products used in 200+ countries, it is already more global than domestic. The MaxClaw launch positions it at the centre of the agentic-AI wave; Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a $38.9B valuation target.
The OpenClaw connection
MiniMax launched MaxClaw in February 2026 — a cloud-hosted AI agent bundling the M2.5 model with the OpenClaw framework. The stock surged 27.4% in a single weekend after the integration.
The European angle
MiniMax’s products (Hailuo AI, Talkie) already have significant European users, and M2.5 is available via API to European developers. For companies evaluating alternatives to OpenAI or Anthropic, MiniMax offers competitive performance at lower cost.
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