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July 8 (Reuters) - Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC 2513.HK, also known as Zhipu AI, is seeking to raise around $4 billion via a share sale in Hong Kong, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

Zhipu, a leading Chinese AI lab, has launched an accelerated bookbuild offering of 19.8 million primary H shares at HK$1,588 to HK$1,698 apiece, representing a 7% to 13% discount to their July 8 close.

Chinese technology firms are increasingly tapping into Hong Kong's hot capital markets to fund their advances in the country's competitive AI space.

A slew of Chinese technology stocks rushed to list in Hong Kong this week, with Nexchip Semiconductor pricing its listing on the day to raise around HK$6.98 billion.

Zhipu, considered a fast-rising rival by OpenAI, last month said it aimed to raise 15 billion yuan ($2.21 billion) from a STAR Market listing, after starting the year with a HK$4.35 billion Hong Kong IPO.

The latest offering comes at a time when the AI race between China and the United States is heating up.

AI startup MiniMax 0100.HK is working on a large language model with 2.7 trillion parameters, Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the news of DeepSeek developing its own AI chip hurt sentiment towards U.S. chip stocks.

Zhipu expects to use the proceeds for research and development, including for training and education of talent and deployment of computer resources, according to the term sheet.

($1 = 6.7995 Chinese yuan renminbi)

($1 = 7.8395 Hong Kong dollars)