To understand the broader market, one must look at external factors. Overnight, U.S. equities continued their rebound, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gaining 7% over three days, while South Korean stocks surged on strong earnings from SK Hynix. Today, both markets finally rebounded, with Hong Kong stocks rising over 0.23%.
Every rally comes with good news. In the Middle East, officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan continue to engage with Iran, and the market is beginning to hope that the Middle East conflict could de-escalate through negotiations, which could push oil prices lower and encourage some funds to re-enter tech stocks. Currently, investment institutions widely believe the market is oversold, and some pension funds, insurance companies, and mutual funds have increased their buying.
At 02:00 Beijing time on Thursday, the Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision. A hold is a near certainty, but that does not mean internal consensus exists. Multiple institutions expect several hawkish dissenting votes at this meeting. The press conference will be the real test, as the market looks for clues on what Waller might say and whether a rate hike is possible in December. Fortunately, U.S. economic data is improving, with durable goods orders posting their largest increase in five months and consumer confidence rising for the first time in four months. The October rate hold itself is a significant positive for tech stocks.
Meanwhile, Microsoft and Alphabet will report earnings tomorrow, which could be the most important directional signal for global tech stocks this week. Both companies are likely to deliver better-than-expected results, and the market has high expectations for their cloud businesses. In addition, AI financing channels are reopening, with Meta's stock offering receiving about five times subscription and Broadcom's related $63 billion financing making progress—both welcomed by the market.
Furthermore, a Goldman Sachs-TrendForce memory expert call provided a significant boost. Key takeaways: TrendForce expects DRAM supply to remain tight through 2027; despite weak consumer demand, strong server demand and limited new supply will support further average selling price increases over the next several quarters. TrendForce also noted that long-term supply agreements could cover up to 60-70%, which would moderate price increases in 2027; however, incremental demand beyond contracted volumes can still be negotiated at higher prices. Taking all factors together, TrendForce currently judges that the DRAM price uptrend will continue into the first half of 2028. This view aligns with yesterday's sector focus, which noted that third-quarter funds favor memory chips (DRAM/NAND) and are actively adding positions. Among the mentioned stocks, Montage Technology (06809) surged over 9%; GigaDevice (03986) rose nearly 10%; Longsys (09976) gained over 7%; and Ingenic Semiconductor (03223) delivered explosive results, with third-quarter net profit up nearly 26 times year-on-year, soaring nearly 19%. Chip-related names like Hua Hong Semiconductor (01347) also rose over 8%.
In the PCB space, Jin'an Guoji (002636.SZ) released a stunning third-quarter report. For the first three quarters, net profit attributable to shareholders reached 1.924 billion yuan, a massive 1,012.67% year-on-year increase. Non-GAAP net profit was 1.933 billion yuan, even higher than the GAAP figure, indicating no earnings inflation—all from core operations. More importantly, Q3 alone earned 1.158 billion yuan, accounting for a full 60% of the first three quarters' profit. The main reason was growth in copper-clad laminate prices and sales volumes. Combined with Huazheng New Material's (603186.SH) third-quarter report released on October 22: Q3 net profit attributable to shareholders was 627 million yuan, surging 30 times year-on-year and more than tripling quarter-on-quarter. This clearly reflects a collective industry cycle dividend, with broadly strong performance. This makes it understandable that leading player KB Laminates (01888) should also see explosive earnings. When the stock fell, someone was buying. According to the latest Hong Kong Stock Exchange data, on October 23, Hallgain Management Limited increased its holdings of KB Laminates by 34,500 shares at HK$36.942 per share, totaling approximately HK$1.2745 million. After the increase, its latest holding was approximately 1.974 billion shares, with a latest stake of 62.65%. Today, the stock surged over 8%.
As for the outlook, it remains to be seen whether KB Laminates will issue new price increase notices. Q4 is the key—whether single-quarter gross margins can hold steady. If the stock falls, expectations should be lowered. In the PCB space, Dingtai Gaoke (01377) also delivered strong results. For the first three quarters of 2026, it achieved operating revenue of 3.487 billion yuan, up 139.25% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.15 billion yuan, up 307.44% year-on-year, with the stock rising nearly 9%.
The optical communications sector also strengthened in tandem. Huiju Technology (01729) and Nazhen Technology (09856) rose over 13%; Cambridge Technology (06166), Zhongji Innolight (03308), and YOFC (06869) gained over 7%.
After a one-day pullback, robotics stocks made a comeback. The catalyst was Unitree Robotics (688836.SH) scheduled to release earnings later on Wednesday, with third-quarter revenue growth likely climbing, as trade data indicates stronger overseas demand and capital is positioning ahead of the event. Tesla founder Elon Musk predicted that robots' demand for memory will be larger than anything else on Earth, with each robot equipped with double the memory. Research firm Counterpoint recently projected that humanoid robot demand for DRAM will grow 20-fold by 2030 compared to now.
Physical AI continues to gain traction. Previously highlighted FORTIOR (01304) surged over 16%; Dobot (02432), Zhaowei Machinery & Electronics (02692), and Hesai-W (02525) rose over 7%. Among new names, Qunhe Technology (00068) is viewed as a scarce domestic physical AI play, with its core strength being a complete flywheel of "GPU cluster—3D data—spatial models—industry applications." At the model level, the company has built a series of model technology foundations including the world generation model SpatialGen, the 3D generation model Lux3D, and the spatial language model SpatialLM, helping AI achieve understanding, reasoning, and generation of the physical world. The stock surged over 20%. SENASIC (06675) positions itself as the edge sensing and computing entry point for Physical AI to land in the physical world. However, its robot perception chips currently contribute very little revenue, with the main revenue drivers being TPMS tire chips and energy storage cell monitoring chips. The stock surged nearly 25%.
Yesterday's discussion of BrainAurora-B (06681) highlighted its pipeline catalyst: a cognitive function assessment product for depression expected to obtain registration in November 2026. Unexpectedly, positive news came immediately. Yesterday evening, the company received a Class II medical device registration certificate from the Beijing Municipal Medical Products Administration for its cognitive function assessment software for depression patients. The product is standalone software for assessing cognitive function in depression patients, evaluating four dimensions—memory, attention, executive function, and information processing speed—and producing results to help clinicians understand patients' cognitive status and provide safe and effective evidence for subsequent treatment. The registration result helps consolidate the group's industry position in digital healthcare for cognitive disorders, directly securing a first-mover market position, with future revenue expected to step up significantly. The stock surged over 50% today.
Nexchip (02249)'s chairman personally proposed: A-share buyback of no less than 500 million yuan and no more than 800 million yuan, plus an additional HK$300 million to HK$600 million for H-shares. Given that Hong Kong trading volume is only around 50 million per day, this buyback scale is quite substantial. Of course, this is currently only a proposal and still needs board approval, a buyback report, and implementation at an appropriate time. Regardless, having the company backstop is always good. The stock rose nearly 8% today.
Sector Focus
According to Scientific American, a team from Massachusetts General Hospital's Brigham Cancer Institute recently published a paper in The Lancet Digital Health introducing an AI model that assesses health status and predicts mortality risk using facial images. The AI scores cancer patients' mortality risk based on facial photos. The results were striking: in a test group of 3,820 cancer patients, among the 122 with the highest risk scores, more than half (64) died within 90 days of the photo being taken; in the lowest-risk group, only 20 out of 975 patients died within 90 days. In another cohort of over 38,000 cancer patients, those whom AI judged to have a physiological age greater than their actual age also had higher mortality risk. However, this technology cannot yet be put into clinical use. On one hand, the cancer survival model's research cohort is predominantly white patients from the Boston area, so results may be biased when applied to other populations; on the other hand, incorporating AI results into patient treatment decisions involves complex ethical issues. This probability is already quite high, highlighting AI's expanding role in healthcare. The AI + medicine direction is expected to remain active. Related Hong Kong stocks include: GenScript Biotech (01548), Yidu Tech (02158), Insilico Medicine (03696), METiS TechBio-P (07666), and XtalPi Holdings (02228).
Stock Spotlight
Sunny Optical (02382): iPhone Duo brings value uplift; diversified layout is the key看点
iPhone Duo pre-orders began on October 16, with wait times in major markets around 13 to 14 weeks, pushing delivery to January 2027. Comment: Apple's high-end models are increasing optical value. The iPhone 18 Pro + iPhone Duo foldable will have lenses supplied by Sunny Optical. The iPhone Duo's multi-camera and foldable structure increase per-unit optical ASP; the iPhone 18 Pro, to accommodate a 2nm high-power chip, has a redesigned body structure with upgraded periscope and glass-plastic hybrid high-end lens specifications. The company is a global leader in automotive optics, with steady business growth. It ranks first globally in automotive lens market share, with products upgraded from ordinary rear-view lenses to 8M/17M high-definition front-view, LiDAR optical modules, and AR-HUD optical components. The automotive segment's gross margin is significantly higher than the mobile phone business, used to hedge against mobile phone cyclical fluctuations, and is the most stable growth source for the next 2-3 years. Amid global smartphone weakness, the company focuses on high-margin products like glass-plastic hybrid lenses, large image sensors, and periscope lenses to resist price wars in the lens industry and support mobile phone segment profits.
Future catalysts: Physical AI visual perception (robot optics) has already entered mass production for sweeping and warehouse robot vision modules; multi-camera perception lenses and micro optical components for humanoid robots are in customer validation; layout in optical coupling and micro-nano optical components, supporting AI computing power optical modules, targeting computing hardware upgrades, currently in sample validation with small-scale supply not expected until 2027; layout in XR/AI glasses optics, reserving optical solutions for AR and Apple AI glasses—a forward-looking layout for next-generation terminal hardware. Sunny Optical is a scarce Hong Kong-listed play with platform capabilities across consumer optics, automotive optics, and industrial optics.
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