Kai-Fu Lee says overseas markets generate about half of the company’s business, but the figure should not be conflated with its recurring-subscription share
Chinese enterprise artificial-intelligence company 01.AI（零一万物）is targeting a Hong Kong initial public offering in 2027 and seeking a pre-IPO financing round, founder and chief executive Kai-Fu Lee said during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
The proposed listing remains at a preliminary stage. The company has not publicly filed an IPO application, selected a confirmed listing date or disclosed how much it intends to raise. Lee said 01.AI was adjusting its corporate structure in preparation for a possible Hong Kong offering.
The Beijing-based company reported that contracted orders had exceeded CNY 1.5 billion, or approximately USD 209 million, by the end of May 2026. That figure represents signed business rather than recognized revenue.
The distinction is material. According to figures previously disclosed in an internal company address, 01.AI recorded about CNY 500 million in orders in 2025 but CNY 250 million in audited revenue. The company has not disclosed how much of its 2026 order book has already been delivered or recognized as revenue.
Two separate percentage figures have also appeared in reports about its business. Lee said overseas markets currently account for approximately half of 01.AI’s business or revenue. Separately, reports said close to half of the company’s business consists of annual recurring revenue generated through subscription arrangements. Publicly available information does not establish that overseas subscriptions themselves account for half of the CNY 1.5 billion order book.
Founded in 2023, 01.AI initially gained attention for developing and releasing its Yi family of large language models, including open-source models aimed at international developers. The company has since shifted much of its commercial focus from training frontier foundation models to building enterprise AI infrastructure, industry applications and agent-based decision systems.
Its current strategy centers on helping large companies and public-sector organizations integrate AI with proprietary business data and operating processes. In July, the company introduced an enterprise platform and a group of management-oriented products designed to support senior executives in areas including operational analysis, sales management and investment decisions.
International expansion forms part of that strategy, although the company has said it does not intend to prioritize the US market. 01.AI has highlighted projects in regions including Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In Kazakhstan, the company says it has helped develop a Kazakh-language model and established a local joint venture focused on sovereign AI applications.
These projects provide evidence of overseas activity, but the company has not published a geographic revenue breakdown, customer count, contract-level figures or independently audited overseas results. Its claim that international business accounts for around half of revenue therefore remains a management disclosure rather than a figure verified through public financial statements.
A potential Hong Kong listing would place 01.AI alongside a growing group of mainland technology companies using the city’s specialist-technology listing framework. Chinese generative-AI developers Zhipu AI and MiniMax listed in Hong Kong in January 2026, becoming the exchange’s first two listed large-language-model companies.
01.AI would arrive with a different investor proposition. Rather than relying primarily on the commercial potential of proprietary foundation models, it is seeking to demonstrate that enterprise deployments, recurring subscriptions and overseas projects can produce sustainable revenue.
Its CNY 1.5 billion order book suggests growing commercial demand, but the company’s eventual IPO case will depend on how much of those contracts becomes recognized revenue, the durability of its subscription income and whether its international projects can generate repeatable business. Until an application is filed, the 2027 listing should be described as a target rather than a confirmed transaction.