Computing constraints force China’s Zhipu to restrict AI coding service sign-ups

This issue reflected the challenge faced by a growing number of Chinese AI companies to expand their businesses, as computing constraints made it difficult for them to meet growing demand.

The GLM Coding Plan service – in which users tap Zhipu’s AI models for coding support without paying for application programming interface access – saw a performance degradation over several weeks before Wednesday’s announcement, according to several customers interviewed by the Post.

“The model itself is not bad to be honest, as long as promises are kept,” said Steve Yeung, a director at Elufa Systems in Hong Kong, who paid US$360 on January 19 for a year’s subscription that offered “high-volume workloads for advanced developers”.

The next day, however, Yeung was no longer able to execute concurrent tasks, despite this feature being one of the key reasons for subscribing to the premium plan.