MiniMax shares rise 3.0% as new model cuts usage costs

Key Facts

MiniMax shares rose about 3.0% to HK$176.5 during trading on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, according to Investing, after the company announced a new artificial intelligence model aimed at speeding up performance and reducing usage costs. The website said the stock rebounded from a record low reached in the previous session. The intraday gain came as the Hang Seng Index fell 0.3% in the broader Hong Kong market. The stock had closed the October 20 session at HK$171.50, down 5.82%, according to historical prices published on the website. Its low during that session was HK$168.30. MiniMax announced the launch of its "M 3.1 Flash" model on October 19, 2026, according to the company's investor relations announcements page.

MiniMax said the new model delivers "a step change in agent tasks, coding, computer use and cybersecurity." The capabilities highlighted by the company include AI agent tasks and work related to writing software. It also listed computer use and cybersecurity among the areas targeted by the release, according to its investor relations announcement. In its detailed product announcement, the company said online inference was about 3 times faster. It also announced a 70% reduction in usage costs, presenting improved speed and lower costs among the model's benefits at launch. MiniMax's presentation of the release focuses on these operational capabilities, with availability through its commercial channels for enterprises and developers.

MiniMax set uniform pricing for model usage, with charges calculated per million tokens, according to its published launch announcement. Input pricing is US$0.15 for that unit of usage. The company set output pricing at $0.60 per million tokens under the same pricing schedule. It priced cached inputs at $0.015 per million tokens, alongside the announced price for other inputs. The company's announced pricing therefore includes rates for inputs, outputs and cached inputs, using the same billing unit for each. The schedule forms part of the rollout of the model, which MiniMax said combines faster online inference with lower usage costs.

The product launch follows growth in MiniMax's revenue to US$116.6 million in the six months ended June 30, 2026, according to its financial results statement. Revenue was $30.4 million in the corresponding period a year earlier. The company said this represented year-on-year growth of 283.1% in total revenue during the period. It nevertheless reported an adjusted net loss of $293.0 million for the six months ended on the same date. MiniMax attributed the increase in research and development expenses mainly to higher spending on cloud services related to model training activities. The period's results thus combined expanding revenue with continued adjusted losses, with higher cloud spending for training included in its model development expenses.

MiniMax was founded in early 2022 and develops foundation AI models, according to its published investor relations profile. Its portfolio includes "MiniMax Agent" and "Hailuo AI," alongside other company products. The portfolio also includes "MiniMax Audio" and "Talkie," as well as a software platform for enterprises and developers. In separate specifications for its "M 3" model, the company says its API supports a context window of up to a million tokens. The specifications set a guaranteed minimum context window of 512 thousand tokens, according to MiniMax's description of the model. The company places these models and products within its business of developing foundation AI and making it available through its products and platform to commercial users and developers.

MiniMax made the new model available through its API, among the access channels announced alongside its rollout. Availability also includes the "M Plan" listed in the company's product announcement. The model also became available through "MiniMax Code," alongside the API and the plan. According to an ET Net report published on October 20, the model weights are scheduled for release on October 23 as a subsequent step following its launch. MiniMax also referred to an upcoming "Pro" version, saying it "pushes the boundaries of intelligence further and will arrive later," without specifying a launch date in the model announcement.