The Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STAR Market) is experiencing a notable surge in investor interest, driven by a confluence of positive factors including a rebound in the overseas semiconductor industry, strong domestic policy support, and ongoing market reforms. This heightened activity is reflected in the robust trading of related Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Wind and exchange data show that the STAR 50 ETF Huatai-PineBridge (588090) recorded net capital inflows for four consecutive trading days last week, with its latest daily trading volume surging past 922 million yuan. This figure marks the second-highest level in the fund's history, as its total fund size and share count reached 4.973 billion yuan and 2.955 billion shares, respectively.
Internationally, sentiment in the tech sector is clearly warming. The U.S. semiconductor sector rebounded overnight, with markets in Japan and South Korea following suit. Major players like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix reported strong second-quarter earnings, while Microsoft’s Azure cloud services growth accelerated. Furthermore, Apple and Amazon both surpassed earnings expectations. Notably, Amazon announced an increase in its full-year capital expenditure forecast to $220 billion, effectively alleviating market concerns over the scale of AI-related spending. Additionally, data from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed that, driven by robust global demand for memory chips, the country’s semiconductor exports in July surged 179% year-on-year to $41 billion.
Domestic policy is consistently releasing positive signals. The Politburo meeting held on July 30 emphasized “deepening the implementation of the AI+ action” and “focusing on building new pillar industries.” The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) proposed “building a breakwater against the impact of external risks” and promoting the entry of medium- and long-term capital into the market. Meanwhile, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) stated that AI-related industries are maintaining a growth rate of over 30% and that the construction of the computing power network during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period is expected to add 4 trillion yuan in direct new investment.
At the institutional reform level, the STAR Market has achieved another key breakthrough. The 2026 Lujiazui Forum and Shanghai’s “20 Measures” for direct financing explicitly proposed expanding the STAR Market’s fifth set of listing criteria to include the AI large-model industry. This would support the listing of hard-tech companies in fields such as quantum technology, biomanufacturing, and embodied intelligence. This move signals that reforms to the STAR Market will continue to deepen, widening the listing channel for frontier technology firms and improving the quality of asset supply, which is expected to provide strong support for the mid-to-long-term fundamentals of the STAR 50 index.
Debon Securities pointed out that the global capital market in the first half of 2026 will be dominated by “AI technology,” with “science-and-technology” indices like the STAR 50 leading the gains. The market is gradually transitioning from being driven by sentiment to being validated by industry fundamentals, with investment logic shifting towards “assessing cash flow and return cycles.” Hard technology is expected to remain a clear main theme for the second half of the year.
The STAR 50 ETF Huatai-PineBridge (588090) closely tracks the STAR 50 index. As one of the core representative broad-based indices for the STAR Market, it selects 50 key underlying stocks with leading market capitalizations and superior liquidity. This index accurately mirrors the overall development trend of the leading tech companies on the board. The index has a substantial 83.7% weight in the semiconductor industry, while also strategically allocating to high-growth sectors like automation equipment, photovoltaic equipment, medical devices, innovative pharmaceuticals, and high-end software development. It covers core areas of the new economy, offering a pure hard-tech attribute and significant growth potential.
Fundamentally, fluctuations in overseas AI narratives do not alter the long-term trend of self-upgrading in China’s technology industry. The underlying logic for the development of hard-tech industries on the STAR Market has not materially changed. The recent market correction may have effectively released valuation pressures and reduced trading congestion, potentially creating a window for mid-to-long-term positioning in quality tech assets. The STAR 50 ETF Huatai-PineBridge (588090) and its feeder funds (Class A: 011610, Class C: 011611), as broad-based index products that aggregate leading sub-sector companies and maintain balanced exposure, could be efficient tools for capturing the mid-to-long-term allocation opportunities in the current tech sector.
Huatai-PineBridge Fund is one of the first ETF managers in China, with over 19 years of deep experience in index investing. It has provided investors with transparent, convenient, and low-cost index tools such as the CSI 300 ETF Huatai-PineBridge (510300) and the A500 ETF Huatai-PineBridge (563360). As of the end of June 2026, the company's ETFs have generated over 180.6 billion yuan in profits for holders over the past two years, making it one of only three public fund companies in the entire A-share market to achieve cumulative profits exceeding 160 billion yuan during that period.