Z.ai
Z.ai is an AI company centered on the GLM large model family. The operating entity is Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd., which describes itself on its official site as “a leading independent LLM provider in China.” The site states that Z.ai is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock code 02513. According to public references, the company was founded in Beijing in 2019 as a spin-out from Tsinghua University research groups, with Jie Tang among its founders. The company was founded as Zhipu AI and now operates internationally as Z.ai.
Business and main product lines
Z.ai’s business follows a single model thread: it trains the GLM model family and builds consumer products, developer platforms, and agent products on top of it.
- Models: as of September 2026, the official site lists GLM-5.3 (long context and coding), GLM-5V-Turbo (multimodal), and GLM-5-Turbo, among others. See the GLM entry for the model family.
- Chat assistant: the consumer chat product is Zhipu Qingyan (ChatGLM), with the international entry point at z.ai.
- Developer platforms: the Chinese BigModel platform provides model APIs and fine-tuning; international API usage and model lists are documented at Z.AI API Docs, which also describes a monthly GLM Coding Plan subscription.
- Agent products: ZCode is an agentic development environment for planning, coding, and debugging; AutoGLM targets device interaction and task execution.
- Open source: the official GitHub organization zai-org maintains open-source GLM releases as well as projects such as CodeGeeX, CogView, and CogVideoX.
Model versions, capabilities, and prices change; read the current official pages before relying on any of them.
Discussion in the show
Weekly #001 touches on Z.ai in several chapters. In the model roundup, Yang Pan lists Z.ai’s GLM 5.3 Flash (nicknamed “Niu Lai”) among the week’s releases and notes that Z.ai 5.3 was open-sourced the following week in the Chinese transcript. In the chapter on cheap models, Guizang argues that capable, low-cost models are the ones that reach real usage, and Yang Pan mentions having tried 5.3 Flash locally (episode 001 chapter).
In the Computer Use chapter, Yang Pan says he has been using Z.ai ZCode and considers it “a complete Codex Alternative,” with a nearly seamless switch from Codex; Orange calls Z.ai a long-time leader in China and recalls earlier Computer Use features such as one-click Feishu installation, adding that limited compute used to be Z.ai’s bottleneck and that Flash mattered a lot for that reason. The hosts also contrast Niu Lai’s supply-oriented approach with Gemini’s speed-focused one. In the model choice chapter, Guizang calls GLM 5.3 being free to try “a really good choice”, and Orange adds that direct user feedback on Z.ai’s Flash in his own product was more telling than benchmarks.
The business-news segment (chapter-25) mentions ARR figures from Z.ai’s financial report, and a later chapter passes along a claim that Z.ai is also developing its own chips. Both are secondhand show discussions; official disclosures take precedence. Show content reflects the hosts’ experiences and opinions and does not replace official documentation.
Frequently asked questions
What company is Z.ai?
Z.ai is an AI company centered on the GLM model family. The operating entity is Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd., officially positioned as “a leading independent LLM provider in China”; see the official site.
Is Z.ai a publicly listed company?
Yes. The company’s site states it is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under code 02513; according to public references, the IPO took place in January 2026.
Where are Z.ai’s official websites and open platform?
The corporate site is zhipuai.cn, the consumer chat entry is z.ai, developers use the BigModel platform in China, and international API documentation is at docs.z.ai.
Where can I get a Z.ai API key?
Register on the BigModel platform (China) or follow the Z.AI API Docs (international) to create an API key, then pick a model and follow the quick start. Billing details live on each platform’s pricing pages.
What is the GLM Coding Plan?
The GLM Coding Plan is a monthly subscription for coding use cases. The official quick start documentation describes it as compatible with coding tools such as Claude Code and Cline when calling GLM models. Plan contents and prices should be read from the official pages.