In the first quarter of 2026, 37 Interactive Entertainment reported a staggering 981.35% year-on-year increase in investment income, largely driven by its early bet on Zhipu AI, a Chinese large language model startup. Zhipu AI, listed in Hong Kong in January 2026, saw its stock price surge from 116 HKD to over 1,000 HKD. This is just the beginning. On May 15, 2026, 37 Interactive hosted a conference in Wuhu, China, gathering nearly 50 hard-tech companies spanning AI chips, brain-computer interfaces (BCI), edge GPU cloud services, embodied AI, and video AI. This move signals a strategic shift: 37 Interactive is no longer just a game developer but a tech ecosystem platform.
Why does this matter? The gaming industry has long struggled with high costs and low efficiency. Developing a AAA game can take 8–10 years, and even 37 Interactive's own titles require nearly two years. By leveraging Zhipu AI's GLM large model, 37 Interactive reduced ad material production costs by over 60% and shortened production cycles from weeks to hours. Now, AI-assisted ad materials account for over 70% of its output, and AI-assisted 2D art covers over 80%. A mid-sized SLG game's update materials, which once required 20 people working for two weeks, now take 5 people three days. Beyond that, 37 Interactive has developed its own large model, 'Xiaoqi,' which has passed national cybersecurity filing, and has over 400 internal AI agents, achieving over 90% AI coverage in core operations.
37 Interactive's investment strategy is equally impressive. It has invested in three of China's 'Big Four' AI model startups: Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI (Kimi), and Baichuan AI, each focusing on different verticals. It also invested in AI chip company Yizhi Electronics (acquired by Black Sesame Technologies, now a key asset of Hong Kong's 'AI chip first stock'), optical module company Lijing Innovation (IPO-filed with a post-investment valuation of 22.5 billion RMB), semiconductor equipment company Star Technology (led by lithography pioneer He Rongming), and BCI unicorn BrainCo (with a $20 million investment in November 2025, followed by a 2 billion RMB funding round). This portfolio covers the entire AI value chain: computing infrastructure, algorithms, applications, BCI, embodied AI, and quantum computing.
The choice of Wuhu for the conference is strategic. Wuhu is a core node of China's 'East Data West Computing' project, with intelligent computing power exceeding 26,000 P (petaflops), accounting for 70% of Anhui Province. The city offers 'computing vouchers'—a 100 million RMB annual fund subsidizing over 25% of computing costs for enterprises. Since 2021, 37 Interactive has established the '37 Play Heart Fund' in Wuhu, with a total scale of 200 million RMB, investing in companies like Tingyu Technology and Huixi Intelligent.
Despite these tech investments, 37 Interactive's core gaming business remains strong. In Q1 2026, revenue reached 3.72 billion RMB, with net profit of 873 million RMB, up 59.02% year-on-year. Games like 'Ragnarok Online: World Journey' topped charts in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, while 'Last Asylum: Plague' ranked in the global top 10 for revenue growth. The self-developed 'Survival 33 Days' topped bestseller lists on WeChat Mini Games, Douyin Mini Games, and TapTap. The company has a rich pipeline including 'Zhui Xu,' 'Dou Po Cang Qiong: Emperor's Path,' and 'Douluo Dalu: Legacy.'
37 Interactive's dual-engine strategy—gaming and tech investment—is unique among Chinese game companies. Each tech investment is tied to its gaming business, ensuring synergy. Since 2018, the company has invested over 4 billion RMB in cutting-edge tech, proving that game developers can be precision hunters of hard tech. Chairman Li Weiwei stated at the Wuhu conference: 'Wuhu has computing power, subsidies, and 37 Interactive has scenarios and sincerity, while you have the most advanced technology and sharpest insights.' By building platforms and fostering ecosystems, 37 Interactive is no longer just a game company—it's a tech ecosystem orchestrator.