On April 8, the A-share market experienced a significant rally, with major indices climbing collectively. The ChiNext and STAR 50 indices led the gains, both surging over 5% for the day, while more than 5,000 stocks closed higher.
The strong market performance was primarily driven by multiple positive catalysts both domestically and internationally. Externally, a temporary ceasefire agreement in Middle East geopolitical conflicts boosted risk appetite, leading to broad strength across Asia-Pacific markets. A sharp decline in international oil prices also alleviated inflation concerns. Domestically, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s pilot policy on "computing power banks" gained traction, supported by fiscal subsidies and the expansion of the "East Data, West Computing" project. These measures collectively spurred a surge in the computing power sector and lifted technology growth stocks. PingZhi Information hit the 20% daily limit, while Zhongji Innolight reached a new all-time high, with trading activity in the sector remaining exceptionally high.
Driven by the concentrated release of favorable policies, the computing power sector saw widespread gains on April 8. Sub-sectors such as PCBs, CPOs, and HBM memory also performed strongly. Companies including Shannon Xinchuang, Xinqi Micro Equipment, Xunjie Xing, and PingZhi Information each rose by the 20% daily limit. Leading firms like Zhongji Innolight and Xinyisheng also refreshed their historical highs.
The key trigger for the computing power sector’s surge was the MIIT’s official release of the "Notice on Carrying out the Special Action for Universal Computing Power to Empower the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises" on April 2. This policy, regarded by the market as a top-level design for the computing power industry, fully resonated during the April 8 trading session, igniting investor enthusiasm and becoming the core driver behind the sector’s rise.
A highlight of the policy is the introduction of an operational model for "computing power banks and computing power supermarkets." It explicitly proposes the integration of idle computing resources nationwide—including GPUs, CPUs, intelligent computing centers, and IDC facilities—into a unified pool, enabling cross-regional intelligent scheduling and the establishment of a national computing power trading platform. Inspired by the banking sector’s deposit-lending logic, this model allows companies to "deposit" idle computing resources into the platform for returns, while SMEs can "withdraw" computing power as needed, promoting efficient resource utilization and revitalizing trillions of yuan worth of idle computing capacity. This creates significant development opportunities for the entire computing power industry chain.
The policy also clarifies that central and local governments will jointly issue fiscal subsidies such as computing power vouchers, storage vouchers, and transmission vouchers, substantially reducing the cost of computing power usage for SMEs. For instance, regions with advanced computing power industries like Shanghai, Guangdong, and Zhejiang have already launched annual subsidy programs exceeding 10 billion yuan, supporting local SMEs’ access to high-quality computing resources at low costs. This directly stimulates downstream demand, providing stable orders for segments such as AI servers, HBM memory, and optical modules.
In addition to the core policy, supplementary measures announced on April 8 further strengthened the positive sentiment. A joint policy from six departments promoting the integration of AI and e-commerce encourages large-scale application of AI technology in sectors like retail and industry, directly boosting demand for inference computing, cloud services, and edge computing. The approval of new hubs under the "East Data, West Computing" project, with additional computing clusters in Ningxia, Guizhou, and Inner Mongolia, further improves the national computing infrastructure layout, benefiting segments like IDC, optical communication, and CPO. Moreover, policies favoring domestic GPUs and AI servers in state-owned cloud platforms open vast market opportunities for local hardware manufacturers.
Amid the policy tailwinds, the computing power sector’s strong performance has been validated in preliminary first-quarter 2026 earnings reports, providing fundamental support for continued stock price strength and reinforcing investor confidence.
Several companies in the computing power sector or related segments have already issued positive preliminary earnings reports, highlighting the industry’s robust growth momentum.
For example, HBM memory stock Shannon Xinchuang released a first-quarter forecast on April 7, projecting net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.14 billion to 1.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6,714.72% to 8,747.18%. The growth is attributed to strong demand driven by generative AI applications, rising prices for enterprise storage products, and improved profitability. The company’s stock hit the 20% daily limit on the same day.
PCB concept stock Oke reported on March 28 that it expects first-quarter net profit to reach 180 million to 220 million yuan, up 2,248.89% to 2,770.86% year-on-year. The increase is due to rising prices of key raw materials like tungsten carbide, coupled with the company’s scale and cost advantages, leading to higher sales volumes and prices. Utilization rates at its industrial parks also improved, supporting margin expansion.
Industry data further confirms the computing power sector’s prosperity. IDC predicts that China’s accelerated server shipments will grow over 55% year-on-year in 2026, with the market continuing to expand. Global AI model parameters are doubling every 3–6 months, driving exponential growth in demand for core hardware such as HBM memory and CPO optical modules. Many analysts believe the sector’s high-growth cycle will extend at least until 2027, backed by solid demand.
Notably, well-known investor Zhang Jianping, often referred to as "Chapter Master," has significantly benefited from his increased holdings in computing power leader Cambricon.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, Zhang first appeared among Cambricon’s top ten shareholders with 5.3388 million shares. He continued to increase his position throughout 2025, holding 6.0863 million shares by the first quarter, 6.4065 million by the third quarter, and adding another 408,400 shares in the fourth quarter. By the end of 2025, he held a total of 6.8149 million shares, with a market value of approximately 9.238 billion yuan, accounting for 1.63% of the company’s circulating shares. Among individual shareholders, his stake is second only to that of the company’s chairman.
In contrast, several institutional investors, including E Fund China SSE 50 Index ETF and Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 Index Fund, reduced their holdings in Cambricon during the same period.
Throughout 2025, Zhang increased his Cambricon holdings by 1.4761 million shares. During that year, Cambricon’s stock price more than doubled, rising 106.01%, making it one of the standout performers in the AI sector. Zhang’s strategic accumulation has yielded substantial returns.
Current indicators continue to reflect strong AI computing demand. Data from OpenRouter shows that the top five API call volumes from March 30 to April 5 were all from domestic models. In the first quarter of 2026, API prices for Zhipu AI rose by 83%, indicating supply shortages. Alibaba’s release of three major new models is expected to further stimulate domestic computing demand. According to China Securities, China’s AI accelerator card shipments reached around 4 million units in 2025, with domestic products capturing over 40% market share, largely through non-GPU alternatives. In the recently released "2026 China IC Design Fabless 100 Ranking," Cambricon led the "Top 10 AI Chip Companies" with a market capitalization of 443.4 billion yuan.
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