China’s Zhipu AI open-sources flagship model, raises prices to narrow gap with US rivals
SCMP Tech / 4/8/2026
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Key Points
- Zhipu AI has open-sourced its flagship AI model, positioning it as part of the company’s broader effort to compete in the advanced model landscape.
- The company raised the model’s prices for the second time this year, indicating a strategy to monetize top-tier AI capabilities while still trying to remain cost-competitive versus US rivals.
- The pricing move suggests Zhipu is narrowing the commercial and performance gap with leading US providers through a combination of openness and market pricing.
- The article frames the update as an early signal of how Chinese AI model providers may balance open-source distribution with revenue generation.
Chinese artificial intelligence company Zhipu AI open-sourced its latest flagship model, GLM-5.1, on Wednesday while raising application programming interface prices by 10 per cent, signalling a shift towards monetising advanced AI capabilities as competition with US rivals intensifies.
The move marked Zhipu’s second price increase this year, following a broader overhaul in February that lifted rates for its coding subscription plans by more than 30 per cent. While the latest adjustment was more...
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