Less than an hour after GLM 5.3 was released, a Z.ai salesperson’s phone and WeChat were lighting up. More than a dozen customers wanted to know when the API would go live. Others, recalling the scramble around Kimi K3, wanted to lock in Z.ai’s inference compute in advance.
It went on all weekend.
According to 36Kr, GLM 5.3 set a new high for Chinese models in coding at launch. It tied Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 for first place among open-source models and ranked in the same performance tier as proprietary flagship models including Claude Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol.
As of August 27, GLM 5.3 is tied with Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 and remains competitive with flagship models from Anthropic and OpenAI, according to the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. Graphic source: Artificial Analysis.
Customers responded immediately.
