# Zhang Peng

CEO, Zhipu. TIME100 AI 2026, Innovators. He led Zhipu to become the first of China's 'AI tigers' to go public, with a $558 million Hong Kong IPO. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/zhang-peng/))

- Education: PhD (Engineering Doctorate), Computer science, Tsinghua University, 2018; MS, Computer science, Tsinghua University, 2005; BS, Computer science, Tsinghua University, 2002 ([ai.techbuzzchina.com](https://ai.techbuzzchina.com/profile/zhang-peng), [baike.baidu.com](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Zhang%20Peng/940527), [peopleofsi.com](https://peopleofsi.com/people/zhang-peng/))
- Career: Zhipu (Co-founder and CEO, 2019 to now); Tsinghua University (Researcher, until 2019) ([ai.techbuzzchina.com](https://ai.techbuzzchina.com/profile/zhang-peng), [time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/zhang-peng/), [baike.baidu.com](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Zhang%20Peng/940527), [gingerriver.com](https://www.gingerriver.com/p/zhipu-ceo-zhang-peng-on-taking-chinas))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/zhang-peng/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/zhang-peng

- Spent more than two decades at Tsinghua University, from entering as a computer science student in 1998, before founding Zhipu. ([gingerriver.com](https://www.gingerriver.com/p/zhipu-ceo-zhang-peng-on-taking-chinas))
- At Tsinghua's Knowledge Engineering Lab he led development of AMiner, a system for mining academic research and researcher networks. ([baike.baidu.com](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Zhang%20Peng/940527))
- Zhipu became the first of China's AI tigers to go public, with a $558 million Hong Kong IPO in January 2026. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/zhang-peng/))
- Zhipu claims its GLM-5.3 model scores 88.2 on Terminal-Bench 2.1, three points ahead of Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/zhang-peng/))
- Joked that if Anthropic charges US$200, Zhipu would charge 200 yuan. ([cls.cn](https://www.cls.cn/detail/2252184))
- Says he would choose achieving AGI over making a lot of profit, calling it a long-distance race where you have to persist. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/zhang-peng/))