Hong Kong's hard technology sector continued to lead the market higher in afternoon trading on June 15th. Shares of Zhipu surged over 35%, while Kingboard Laminates, Kingboard Holdings, Biren Technology, Innoscience, and Huahong Grace saw gains exceeding 10%. Huabao's Hong Kong Stock Connect Information Technology ETF (159131), the largest and most liquid* ETF of its kind, saw its on-exchange price rise sharply, currently up 6.47%. This gain ranks it first among all ETFs in the market, with real-time turnover surpassing 14 billion yuan.
Key Catalysts Behind the Move
The news catalyst stems from several recent events. On June 9th (Beijing time), Anthropic released its most powerful models to date, Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, which reportedly lead in nearly all benchmarks across software engineering, knowledge work, vision, and scientific research. Just three days later, on June 12th, the U.S. government issued an export control order citing national security, requiring the suspension of access to these two models for all foreign nationals. Unable to accurately distinguish users by nationality, Anthropic opted for a global takedown. A day after that, on June 13th, Zhipu AI announced the full public release of its strongest open-source model, GLM-5.2. The release time of "17:21" precisely corresponded to the Eastern Time when the U.S. ban was issued, forming a strategically planned response.
Analysis has pointed out that the core impact of this event is not the short-term takedown of the two models, but the further increase in uncertainty surrounding access to cutting-edge overseas model services. This is not an isolated incident; it reflects the intense competition between China and the U.S. in the AI field. AI has become a national development strategy for major powers, and this event further highlights the necessity and urgency of building a self-reliant and controllable AI industry chain.
Geopolitical Risk Eases
Another key catalyst came from a marginal improvement in geopolitical risk. The U.S. President announced on the 14th (local time) that the United States and Iran had reached a peace agreement, with the Strait of Hormuz to be "opened toll-free." This news significantly boosted risk appetite in Asia-Pacific stock markets. Institutional analysis suggests that Hong Kong growth assets had been persistently suppressed by tightening liquidity and external uncertainties. With these pressures easing today, market risk appetite recovered rapidly. As a theme within Hong Kong's new economy with higher elasticity and more pronounced hard-tech attributes, the information technology sector saw significantly leading gains.
Performance and Product Details
Looking at the performance over the past six months, the underlying index for the hard-tech-focused Huabao Hong Kong Stock Connect Information Technology ETF (159131)—the CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect Information Technology Composite Index—has accumulated gains of over 17%. This outperformed the Hang Seng TECH Index by 31%, the Hong Kong Stock Connect Technology Index by 30%, and the Hong Kong Stock Connect Internet Index by over 44%, demonstrating significantly sharper and more elastic performance.
The ETF supports T+0 trading. As the market's first, largest, and most liquid Hong Kong Stock Connect Information Technology ETF, its underlying index is composed of "80% hardware + 20% software." It focuses on Hong Kong-listed "semiconductors + electronics + computer software," covering 52 hard-tech companies. The combined weight of the two major wafer foundry giants, SMIC and Huahong Semiconductor, exceeds 21%, the highest among all indices with linked products in the market. The weight of domestic AI PC leader Lenovo Group is 18.20%, also the highest index concentration in the market. The combined weight of PCB leaders Kingboard Holdings and Kingboard Laminates exceeds 8%, again the highest concentration. The index components exclude large-cap internet enterprises like Alibaba, Tencent, and Meituan, giving it higher sharpness and making it more effective at capturing the Hong Kong AI hard-tech trend.
*Note: "First in the market" refers to the ETF being the first to track the CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect Information Technology Composite Index. As of June 9, 2026, the ETF's latest on-exchange scale was 13.30 billion yuan, the largest among the 8 ETFs currently tracking the index. Its average daily turnover year-to-date is 4.99 billion yuan. The underlying index's annual historical returns from 2021 to 2025 were: -9.54%, -34.47%, -0.25%, 21.58%, and 39.30% respectively. Past index performance does not indicate future results.
Investors should be aware that the ETF and its feeder fund passively track the index. The index base date is November 14, 2014, and it was published on June 23, 2017. Constituent stocks are shown for illustrative purposes only; individual stock descriptions are not investment advice and do not represent the holdings or trading动向 of the fund manager. The product is issued and managed by Huabao Fund. Distributors do not bear responsibility for the investment or redemption of the product. Investors should carefully read the Fund Contract, Prospectus, and Key Facts Statement to understand the fund's risk-return characteristics and choose products suitable for their own risk tolerance. Past fund performance does not predict future results. The performance of other funds managed by the manager does not guarantee this fund's performance. Fund investment involves risks. The fund manager assesses this fund's risk level as R4 (Medium-High Risk), suitable for Aggressive (C4) and above investors. Distributors provide their own risk assessments based on regulations; investors should refer to the matching results from distributors, whose opinions on suitability may differ. A distributor's risk rating cannot be lower than the manager's rating. The risk-return characteristics in the fund contract and the risk等级 may differ due to different considerations. Investors should understand the fund's risk-return profile and choose fund products based on their own investment objectives, horizon, experience, and risk tolerance, bearing the risks themselves. The CSRC's registration of the fund does not indicate a substantive judgment or guarantee of its investment value, market prospects, or returns. Funds carry risks; investment requires caution.
Comments