“AI sells water to 💦 people” prepares for a listing: selling Tokens lost $300 million in a year

The AI "Token factory" — Beijing SiliconFlow Liquid Technology Co., Ltd. — has submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
① By the end of 2024, registered users were only 127.1k; by the end of 2025, they surged to 9.1974 million, and by April 2026 they further rose to 10.2824 million.
② It received 7 rounds of financing in less than 3 years; the backers include Alibaba, Huawei, Meituan, Zhipu, and others.
Established for less than three years, SiliconFlow’s revenue growth in 2025 reached as high as 653.2%, but it has not yet become profitable. During the reporting period, total revenue was under $70 million, yet continued investment brought large losses: cumulative losses of nearly $450 million, and profitability still faces significant pressure.
As the proportion of its public cloud business first exceeded 50%, the company’s overall gross margin turned from positive to negative: the more Tokens it sells, the more it loses.
So far, SiliconFlow has completed 7 rounds of financing, with investors including Alibaba, Huawei, Zhipu AI, Meituan, Ctrip, Biren Technology, NIO Capital, SenseTime Technology, and others. Its valuation rose from $280 million in the angel round to $7.74 billion in the B+ round. Alibaba holds 7.42% of SiliconFlow through multiple companies in Hangzhou, making it one of the company’s largest external institutional shareholders.