On June 1, 2010, the ChiNext Index officially set sail, anchoring its original aspiration to serve technological innovation, resonating and thriving in sync with China's innovative economy. Over the past sixteen years, the ChiNext market has continuously deepened reforms and optimized its systems, gathering a large number of hard-tech enterprises representing the future direction of China's industries, forming industrial clusters centered on AI computing power and new energy. As the core benchmark of the ChiNext market, the ChiNext Index accurately reflects the development trajectory of China's technological innovation industry and has become an important tool for investors to seize opportunities presented by the era's development.
On May 13, 2026, the ChiNext Index broke through the 4037.96-point level set on June 5, 2015, reaching a new intraday historical high. Standing at the critical juncture of the ChiNext Index's 16th anniversary, we look back on its growth path and look ahead to future opportunities.
I. Fertile Ground for Innovation, Benchmark for Growth: The Original Aspiration and Advancement of the ChiNext Market and Its Index 1. Establishment Background: Filling the Gap in the Multi-tiered Capital Market On October 30, 2009, the ChiNext market officially commenced trading, with the first batch of 28 companies listed. The establishment of the ChiNext market was a significant milestone in the development history of China's capital market. Its original intent was to provide financing channels for small and medium-sized enterprises with high growth potential and innovative capabilities, addressing their challenges of "difficult and expensive financing," while also offering investors opportunities to share in the outcomes of China's economic transformation and technological innovation.
More than half a year after the launch of the ChiNext market, on June 1, 2010, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange officially released the ChiNext Index, with May 31, 2010, as the base date and a base point of 1000. The introduction of the ChiNext Index marked a new stage of development for the ChiNext market and provided investors with an important benchmark for measuring its overall performance.
2. Development Journey: From Inception to Innovation Engine, Scale Surges 30-Fold Since its establishment, the ChiNext market has consistently anchored its core positioning of serving growth-oriented innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises. Through sixteen years of cultivation and two key system reforms, it has achieved a leap from "seedling" to "pillar of innovation in the capital market."
The year 2020 was a milestone for ChiNext's development. On August 24, the registration-based IPO system reform was officially implemented, ushering in a new stage of market-oriented reform. The attractiveness of ChiNext significantly increased, with high-quality technology and innovation enterprises accelerating their aggregation.
In 2026, ChiNext embarked on a renewed journey. On April 10, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Opinions on Deepening ChiNext Reform to Better Serve the Development of New Quality Productive Forces," introducing systematic reform measures across eight dimensions. These include relaxing listing standards for unprofitable hard-tech enterprises and optimizing financing and M&A systems. This represents the most significant institutional upgrade since the implementation of the registration-based system on ChiNext, fundamentally enhancing the long-term investment value of the market segment.
As of May 14, 2026, the scale of the ChiNext market has achieved a historic leap: the total number of listed companies reached 1,398, with a total market capitalization of approximately 22.73 trillion yuan. The total market capitalization of the ChiNext Index constituents is 10.97 trillion yuan, accounting for 48.26% of the total.
Looking back over its sixteen-year development journey, at the end of 2010, ChiNext had only 153 listed companies with a total market capitalization of about 736.5 billion yuan. After more than a decade of rapid growth, the number of listed companies has reached 1,398, accounting for 25% of all A-share listed companies. The total market capitalization has grown over 30-fold compared to the end of 2010, establishing ChiNext as a core pillar of China's capital market in serving technological innovation.
Data Source: Shenzhen Stock Exchange, iFinD, as of May 14, 2026.
II. Market Evolution: Capturing the Pulse of the Times, Leading the Direction of Growth The ChiNext Index inherently possesses growth genes, and its industry structure itself serves as a clear "map of industrial upgrading." Looking back at its historical performance, since its inception in 2010, the ChiNext Index has experienced three landmark structural bull markets:
From 2012 to 2015, the mobile internet wave swept the market, driving a comprehensive surge in the TMT sector. From 2019 to 2021, the three major tracks of new energy, biopharmaceuticals, and semiconductors rose in resonance. From 2024 to the present, AI computing power and high-end hard technology have taken over as the core growth engines, with sub-sectors like optical modules and AI servers making strong breakthroughs. Each round of market rotation has precisely aligned with the upgrading rhythm of China's growth industries. The continuously evolving industry structure of ChiNext has consistently provided investors with a highly valuable market barometer for gauging industrial trends and seizing growth opportunities.
III. Index Empowerment: The Evolution Logic and Growth Resilience of the ChiNext Index The ChiNext Index is composed of the 100 stocks with the largest market capitalization and good liquidity on the ChiNext market, reflecting its overall performance.
Core Compilation Rules
Index Compilation Advantages: Inherent "Survival of the Fittest." The ChiNext Index dynamically adjusts its constituent stocks every six months, removing underperforming companies and including high-growth enterprises. It uses free-float market capitalization weighting, tilting weights towards industry leaders. Moreover, the leaders in various segments are of moderate size with sufficient flexibility, making them prone to becoming multi-baggers. Market Segment Positioning Advantage: ChiNext companies are in the golden growth phase of performance explosion, with mature business models and sustained earnings release. This positioning avoids the risks of the startup phase and the low-growth bottleneck of the mature phase, offering high elasticity from the resonance of valuation and profitability. It provides space for the transition from small-cap to mid-cap stocks and is fertile ground for discovering ten-baggers. Policy and Industry Advantage: ChiNext focuses on high-quality sectors aligned with national strategies, such as new energy and AI, resulting in a superior industry structure. Compared to the Main Board and the STAR Market, it combines both earnings realization and growth potential. Furthermore, its capital operation tools are flexible, helping enterprises achieve rapid development through organic growth and external M&A.
IV. Welcoming a Stronger New Era for ChiNext Standing at the moment when the ChiNext Index has reached a new historical high, it still possesses medium- to long-term upside potential. The current rally is underpinned by the real incremental cycle in hard-tech sectors like AI computing power, semiconductors, and high-end manufacturing, with order, revenue, and profit realization supporting valuation repair and premium expansion, backed by solid fundamentals. Coupled with the implementation of top-level institutional reform dividends, ChiNext has completed the iteration of its constituent stocks, becoming the core carrier for new quality productive forces in the A-share market, with a solid institutional foundation.
Looking ahead, the ChiNext Index is currently in a triple-resonance window of "moderate valuation + industrial transformation + policy catalysis," poised to embark on a new journey of stronger development.
For ordinary investors, the ChinaAMC ChiNext ETF (159957) is a high-quality choice for capturing the growth opportunities of ChiNext. This product closely tracks the ChiNext Index, precisely covering 100 core hard-tech enterprises within the segment. It perfectly aligns with the layout of high-growth sectors like AI computing power and new energy, enabling efficient participation in the index's growth dividends. Furthermore, the fund's management fee is 0.15% and its custody fee is 0.05%, which are the lowest levels among similar on-exchange products, helping investors easily grasp the long-term investment opportunities brought by the development of new quality productive forces.
ChiNext Index Performance: The index's complete annual performance for the past five years (2021-2025) is: 12.02%, -29.37%, -19.41%, 13.23%, 49.57%. Past index performance does not predict future fund performance.
Data Source: iFind, major brokerage research reports. This is not a stock recommendation and does not constitute any substantive advice, promise, or legal document for investors.
Risk Warning: The subscription fee for the above product is <0.5%, the redemption fee is <0.5%, the management fee is 0.15%, and the custody fee is 0.05%. 1. The above fund is an equity fund. Its expected risk and expected return are higher than those of hybrid funds, bond funds, and money market funds. It belongs to a medium-high risk (R4) category. The specific risk rating result is subject to the rating provided by the fund manager and sales agencies. 2. The above fund is an index fund. Investors investing in this fund face potential risks such as failure to meet tracking error control targets, cessation of service by the index compiler, and suspension of constituent securities. 3. Before investing in this fund, investors should carefully read the fund's "Fund Contract," "Prospectus," "Product Key Facts Statement," and other legal documents, fully understand the fund's risk-return characteristics and product features, and based on their own investment objectives, investment horizon, investment experience, and asset status, fully consider their own risk tolerance. After understanding the product situation and sales suitability opinions, make rational judgments and prudent investment decisions independently, and bear investment risks independently. 4. The fund manager does not guarantee that this fund will be profitable, nor does it guarantee a minimum return. The past performance and net asset value level of this fund do not predict its future performance. The performance of other funds managed by the fund manager does not constitute a guarantee of this fund's performance. 5. The fund manager reminds investors of the "buyer beware" principle of fund investment. After investors make investment decisions, investment risks arising from the fund's operational status, fluctuations in the listed trading price of fund shares, and changes in the fund's net asset value shall be borne by the investors themselves. 6. The China Securities Regulatory Commission's registration of this fund does not indicate its substantive judgment or guarantee of the fund's investment value, market prospects, or returns, nor does it indicate that there is no risk in investing in this fund. 7. This product is issued and managed by China Asset Management Co., Ltd. Selling agencies do not assume responsibility for the investment, redemption, and risk management of the product. 8. The views in this material are for reference only and do not constitute any substantive advice or promise to investors, nor are they any legal document. The market involves risks, and investment requires caution.
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