On Monday, March 16, the A-share market experienced a V-shaped recovery, with the Shenzhen Component Index closing in positive territory and the ChiNext Index rising over 1%. In the afternoon session, computing hardware sectors such as chips and optical modules saw significant strength, driving the ChiNext Artificial Intelligence Index into positive territory. A broad majority of its constituent stocks advanced, with popular names like Ingenic Semiconductor surging over 9%, SigmaStar Technology and Fullhan Microelectronics gaining more than 7%, and Eoptolink Technology, Lante Technologies, and Zhongji Innolight all rising over 3%.
Among popular ETFs, the largest artificial intelligence ETF on the ChiNext and STAR Market tracks—the ChiNext Artificial Intelligence ETF (159363)—quickly rebounded and climbed in the afternoon. Its price closed up 1.22%, ending a three-day losing streak with a positive daily close. Daily turnover reached 463 million yuan.
Why did computing hardware sectors like chips and optical modules surge in the afternoon? Capital is closely watching the "AI Super Bowl"—NVIDIA's GTC conference, scheduled for March 16–19, 2026. According to the official agenda, CEO Jensen Huang will deliver a keynote speech in the early hours of March 17 (Beijing time). As a global bellwether for AI computing power, Huang's announcements have historically acted as major catalysts for market movements. Which sectors are likely to be impacted by this year’s conference?
CITIC Securities pointed out that with the NVIDIA GTC 2026 conference approaching, the company is expected to further expand its chip product portfolio. In addition to the full suite of six core chips for the Vera Rubin AI platform, details about the Rubin Ultra chip and cabinet design may be disclosed, bringing innovations in data interconnection and power supply architecture. Visibility for new products like orthogonal backplanes and CPO is also expected to improve.
The report also suggested that NVIDIA may launch an LPU inference chip, which, together with the CPX chip, would expand its inference capabilities. Furthermore, the company might outline the upgrade path for its next-generation Feynman architecture and share insights on future computing infrastructure and the AI industry. The conference is anticipated to reinforce market confidence in the sustained growth and incremental logic of the AI sector.
Guosheng Securities also believes that the GTC conference will showcase core GPU technologies based on NVIDIA’s Rubin and Feynman architectures, alongside disruptive upgrades in computing infrastructure such as CPO optical interconnects, 800V high-voltage power supply, and liquid cooling. As the event approaches, the computing hardware sector has already begun warming up. In the long term, the industry’s technological roadmap and commercialization pace are expected to become clearer, with continued attention on leading computing companies like optical module manufacturers.
To capture opportunities around AI-related events, investors can consider the ChiNext Artificial Intelligence ETF (159363) and its feeder funds (Class A: 023407, Class C: 023408), which provide one-click exposure to "computing + AI applications" and stand to benefit directly from the commercialization boom in AI technology. The ETF allocates approximately 60% of its portfolio to computing (including leading optical module and IDC companies) and about 40% to AI applications, making it not only a core computing play but also a true representative of AI application exposure.
According to data from stock exchanges, as of March 13, the ChiNext Artificial Intelligence ETF managed by Huabao Fund had a net asset value of 5.893 billion yuan, with an average daily turnover of 778 million yuan over the past six months. It ranks first in both size and trading volume among the 26 ETFs tracking the ChiNext AI Index, STAR AI Index, and STAR Market & ChiNext AI Index.
A MACD golden cross signal has formed, indicating positive momentum for several stocks.
Comments