China’s ‘AI tigers’ see shares surge after Nvidia CEO touts OpenClaw as ‘next ChatGPT’

Chinese artificial intelligence stocks experienced a significant boost on Wednesday, following encouraging remarks from Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang regarding the potential of AI agents and the platform OpenClaw. During a recent address, Huang proclaimed OpenClaw as "definitely the next ChatGPT," highlighting its transformative potential in enhancing user capabilities in the AI realm. OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent, is gaining traction in China, with numerous local tech firms adopting it into their product lines and launching their own variations. Notably, MiniMax and Knowledge Atlas Technology, also known as Zhipu, saw their shares soar by 22% and 14%, respectively, in Hong Kong. These companies are part of a group referred to as China's "AI tigers," which are engaged in developing large language models to compete with industry leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic. In a recent move, Zhipu introduced its GLM-5, an open-source large language model that boasts enhanced coding capabilities and the ability to handle extended tasks. The company claims that GLM-5's performance approaches that of Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.5 in coding benchmarks and outperforms Google's Gemini 3 Pro in certain tests, although these assertions have not been independently verified by CNBC. Additionally, SenseTime, which has shifted its focus from facial recognition technology to AI software platforms, saw a 2.43% increase in its shares after integrating one of its AI assistants with OpenClaw. Meanwhile, UCloud Technology, a cloud computing firm listed in Shanghai, experienced a 13% uptick in its stock value. Moody's recently noted that China's swift adoption of artificial intelligence solidifies its status as a leading AI market globally. However, the pace of adoption varies across different sectors, reflecting disparities in digital readiness and leading to diverse credit implications. While major tech companies are pushing for advanced and impactful AI integration, consumer and industrial sectors are adopting the technology more selectively to enhance efficiency. In a broader context, other tech stocks across Asia also witnessed gains after Huang hinted at expected purchase orders between Blackwell and Vera Rubin reaching $1 trillion by 2027. SK Hynix shares rose nearly 9%, while Samsung Electronics saw an increase of 7.53%.