UBS describes Zhipu as the "Chinese version of Anthropic": GLM-5.1 is the world's leading open-source solution for long-cycle tasks, and its usage has tripled despite a 30% price increase.

According to ME News, on April 21 (UTC+8), according to Beating's monitoring, UBS analysts released a nearly 40-page research report, initiating coverage of Beijing-based AI company Zhipu with a "buy" rating and a target price of HK$1160. The report's core argument is straightforward: Zhipu's model development and commercialization path is highly similar to that of global AI leader Anthropic—therefore, the analyst positions it as the "Chinese version of Anthropic." First, their strategic focus is highly aligned. Both companies chose programming capabilities as their breakthrough point because programming tasks offer verifiable results and quantifiable value, representing the shortest path for AI to move from "assistance" to "execution." Anthropic bets on coding capabilities at the model level, emphasizing long-horizon tasks—that is, whether AI can continuously complete complex engineering tasks for several hours without human intervention. Zhipu has adopted almost the same path. The company launched its AI programming assistant product CodeGeeX as early as September 2022, making it one of the earliest companies in China to deploy AI programming. According to tests by METR (Model Assessment and Threat Research Institute), Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 can complete a task equivalent to human performance for approximately 12 hours (with a 50% success rate); Zhipu's GLM-5.1 achieves approximately 8 hours, ranking first among open-source models globally. Secondly, the performance gap between models continues to narrow. According to Artificial Analysis data, as of April 17, 2026, Zhipu's latest flagship model, GLM-5.1, ranks seventh globally in the Model Intelligence Index, scoring 51.4 points, only 2 points behind Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6's 53 points. In SWE-bench Pro (an authoritative test simulating real-world code engineering tasks), GLM-5.1 ranks second globally with a score of 58.4, second only to Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview (77.8 points) and surpassing GPT-5.4 (57.7 points). Third, while both have similar monetization paces, Zhipu's ARR growth is faster and more cost-effective. In December 2025, Zhipu's open platform had an annualized recurring revenue (ARR) of $39 million. By March 2026, this figure had reached $250 million—a 6.4-fold increase in just four months. In comparison, Anthropic took approximately nine months to achieve a similar multiple (6.4 times) of growth in its early stages. Anthropic recently grew from $9 billion to $30 billion, a 3.3-fold increase in just four months. Both are monetizing rapidly, but Zhipu has a significant advantage. The report states, "Compared to global leaders, Zhipu's ARR growth is steeper, despite a smaller base." (Source: ME)