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MiniMax revenue surges 283% but remains behind pace to meet forecast

South China Morning Post reports that Chinese AI company MiniMax increased first-half revenue 283% to US$116.6 million, driven by rapid enterprise growth, while losses remained substantial and revenue stayed below the pace needed to meet analysts’ full-year forecast.

By 5 min read
AI-generated editorial illustration accompanying MiniMax revenue surges 283% but remains behind pace to meet forecast
The short version

South China Morning Post reports that Chinese AI company MiniMax increased first-half revenue 283% to US$116.6 million, driven by rapid enterprise growth, while losses remained substantial and revenue stayed below the pace needed to meet analysts’ full-year forecast.

What happened

South China Morning Post reported that MiniMax’s revenue for the six months ending June 30 rose 283% year over year to US$116.6 million. The company’s enterprise-facing business was the main driver, with revenue from its Open Platform and other AI-based enterprise services increasing more than 703% to US$73.9 million. Despite the growth, first-half revenue represented roughly 32% of the US$363.77 million full-year 2026 analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

South China Morning Post reported on August 26 that Chinese artificial-intelligence company MiniMax posted first-half revenue of US$116.6 million for the six months ended June 30, a 283% increase from the same period a year earlier. SCMP said the result was based on figures reported by MiniMax. The company’s full-year revenue for 2025 was US$79 million, according to the report, making the first half of 2026 already larger than the previous full-year total.

The largest increase came from MiniMax’s enterprise-facing business. SCMP reported that revenue from the company’s Open Platform and other AI-based enterprise services rose more than 703% year over year, from US$9.2 million to US$73.9 million. MiniMax said this segment represented 63.4% of total revenue, up from 30.3% a year earlier. SCMP attributed the change to growth in paying users and enterprise customers, but the report did not provide a customer count or identify the specific customers involved.

The report said revenue from MiniMax’s other AI-native products also doubled, although it did not give a detailed breakdown of those products or their individual contribution to total revenue. The figures indicate that the company’s revenue mix shifted toward enterprise services during the reported period. SCMP did not independently verify the company’s customer figures, product-level revenue claims, or the extent to which revenue came from recurring contracts versus other forms of usage or sales.

MiniMax remained unprofitable. SCMP reported that total loss narrowed 11% to US$358 million, while adjusted net loss expanded 111.2% to US$293 million from approximately US$139 million a year earlier. Gross profit increased more than five-fold to US$20.8 million from US$3.7 million, and gross profit margin rose to 17.9% from 12.1%. MiniMax shares, which are listed in Hong Kong, closed 1.13% higher at HK$303 on the day of the earnings announcement, before the results were announced, according to SCMP.

Read the primary source: scmp.com

Why it matters

The results show both strong commercial expansion and the financial pressure facing AI companies competing in China and the United States. MiniMax’s enterprise revenue became a much larger share of its business, but the company continued to report significant losses. Its gross margin improved, while adjusted net loss more than doubled, underscoring the cost of converting rapid AI adoption into a sustainable business.

MiniMax’s results provide a concrete example of the tension between AI growth and AI profitability. SCMP reported a sharp increase in sales, particularly from enterprise services, but also reported an adjusted net loss of US$293 million for the period. The contrast matters because revenue growth alone does not show whether an AI company can cover model development, computing, staffing, distribution, and other operating costs.

The changing revenue mix is significant. According to SCMP, enterprise services accounted for 63.4% of MiniMax’s first-half revenue, compared with 30.3% a year earlier. Enterprise customers can provide larger and more repeatable sources of income than consumer experimentation, but this report does not establish the duration, renewal rate, margins, or concentration of MiniMax’s enterprise contracts. Those unknowns limit what can be concluded about the durability of the shift.

The company’s improving gross margin is a potentially useful indicator, but it does not resolve the profitability problem. SCMP reported that gross profit margin increased to 17.9%, while adjusted net loss expanded more than twofold. A higher gross margin may mean that revenue is covering a larger share of direct costs, yet the reported figures show that overall spending and other expenses remained high enough for adjusted losses to widen. The source does not provide enough detail to identify the main causes.

MiniMax is operating in a crowded market that includes major Chinese and US AI laboratories, according to SCMP’s framing of the results. The practical implication is competitive pressure on pricing, model performance, computing access, distribution, and enterprise retention. This article does not independently compare MiniMax’s models, prices, usage, or technical performance with rivals, so any claim that it is gaining or losing technological ground would go beyond the source.

What to watch next

The key question is whether MiniMax can maintain its enterprise growth during the second half of 2026 and close the gap with the analyst forecast. Further reporting should clarify customer numbers, revenue by product, cash resources, operating costs, and whether the company expects losses to narrow. The figures in this report come from SCMP’s account of MiniMax’s results and are not independently confirmed here against a primary filing.

The immediate financial question is whether MiniMax’s second-half revenue can make up the difference between US$116.6 million in the first half and the US$363.77 million full-year 2026 analyst estimate cited by SCMP. Reaching that estimate would require substantially higher revenue in the remaining six months than in the first half. The estimate is a Bloomberg compilation of analyst expectations, not company guidance, and SCMP did not report a formal forecast from MiniMax.

Further results should show whether enterprise growth continues at anything close to the reported rate. The source gives year-over-year growth and the enterprise segment’s share of revenue, but not the number of paying users, the number of enterprise customers, average contract value, geographic distribution, or customer retention. Without those details, it is not possible to determine whether the increase reflects broad adoption or a smaller number of large accounts.

Investors and customers may also watch the relationship between gross profit and adjusted losses. SCMP reported higher gross profit and a stronger gross margin alongside a sharply larger adjusted net loss. Future disclosures could show whether computing expenses, research and development, sales costs, stock-based compensation, or other items are driving the gap. Those categories are not detailed in the supplied report.

The company’s market position remains uncertain from this source alone. SCMP reported that MiniMax’s shares rose 1.13% to HK$303 before the earnings announcement, but that movement is not evidence of market judgment about the results. The report also does not establish MiniMax’s cash position, financing needs, model availability, customer concentration, or plans for reducing losses. These are meaningful unknowns for evaluating whether rapid AI revenue growth can become a durable business.

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