Today, the market experienced a pullback after an early surge, temporarily pausing the vigorous year-end rally. However, despite the adjustment, the market's total turnover reached nearly 3.7 trillion yuan, setting another new historical record. Trading activity remains robust; the brief pause following a 17-day winning streak does not alter the market's long-term upward trajectory. Some observers have noted that this year's technology market trend differs slightly from last year's, indicating a quiet shift in the focus of technology investments.
The AI hotspot is transitioning from infrastructure to applications. Previously, the AI frenzy centered on infrastructure, with the core logic being that technological implementation first requires a solid foundational base. The exponential growth in demand for computing power and bandwidth for large model training and inference has triggered a global computing arms race; policy directives emphasizing new quality productive forces are also accelerating the large-scale construction of computing infrastructure. Technology investment thus created an infrastructure boom focused on optical communication and computing power supply, establishing the necessary hardware and data foundation for AI technology deployment.
By 2026, the AI market hotspot is shifting towards applications. This month, a notable domestic AI company listed in Hong Kong saw its stock price double powerfully post-IPO, becoming a focal point in the capital markets. This company has built strong moats with its proprietary, controllable core large model technology, achieving not only a technological breakthrough but also successfully commercializing overseas, realizing scalable profits in the consumer market and demonstrating the substantial commercial value of applied AI. This event is viewed by capital as a significant signal, acting as a catalyst for the AI application sector, with market consensus rapidly forming that an inflection point for the AI application industry has arrived. Of course, extrapolating from a single Hong Kong-listed company's success to assume identical capabilities for A-share listed companies doesn't form a complete logical loop. Nevertheless, as technological accumulation from the infrastructure phase achieves critical breakthroughs, policy and capital are beginning to focus on vertical scenario implementation.
The transition is from hardware to software. For instance, a concept gaining traction recently is GEO. GEO is an optimization strategy for generative AI platforms, designed to ensure a company's brand, product, or service is prioritized and accurately recommended within AI-generated responses. With the rapid development of large AI models, the GEO market is poised for steep growth. Citing Changjiang Securities data analysis, GEO is in its early stages; according to Miaozhen Systems estimates, the global GEO market is projected to reach $11.2 billion by 2025, potentially growing to a hundred-billion-dollar level by 2030. GEO is expected to drive business model transformation for advertising agencies, with AI+ marketing potentially reshaping the core of the advertising industry. Another recent market focus is ChatGPT's launch of health services. Looking forward, applications in finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and autonomous driving can not only address real-world pain points but also form clear commercial loops, becoming core vehicles for releasing industrial value. Amid the capital euphoria, one thing seems increasingly clear for 2026: AI will remain a persistent technology theme, and the shift from hardware to software is inevitable—it's merely a question of timing. From an industrial chain perspective, the massive investments in AI infrastructure must resonate effectively with the software end to ensure the sustainability of long-term investments. Currently, a performance gap exists between leading North American AI models and domestic Chinese models; however, as domestic computing power supply bottlenecks ease, domestic model providers may experience rapid performance improvements.
How to select products for investing in AI applications? For investing in such a fast-evolving, high-tech sector, technology-themed ETFs are a solid choice. The Software ETF (515230) and Computer ETF (512720) capture AI application opportunities, anchoring the "hardware to software" industrial trend, with coverage spanning core scenarios like fintech, industrial intelligence, and smart interaction. These ETFs effectively diversify single-stock volatility risk and offer advantages like sufficient scale and stable liquidity, providing retail investors with low-threshold, efficient investment tools. Coupled with accelerating AI application commercialization and ongoing policy support, they represent excellent vehicles for capturing the红利 of the AI application赛道. Notably, the Software ETF stands to benefit deeply from the advertising industry transformation driven by GEO concept发酵. As massive AI infrastructure investments synergize with software development and domestic computing bottlenecks gradually ease, model performance is expected to achieve leapfrog improvements. Furthermore, as content interaction becomes a core breakthrough point for AI applications, paradigm shifts are already visible in social/companionship, film/TV, gaming, and toy sectors, significantly enhancing user engagement. The Game ETF (516010) and Film/Media ETF (516620), empowered by technology, have unlocked new industry potential and warrant close attention. Specifically, the film/TV industry leverages generative AI to drastically reduce content creation costs and barriers, with declining computing costs directly benefiting this content-intensive sector; the gaming industry optimizes R&D efficiency through AIGC toolchains and revolutionizes player experience via intelligent agent interaction systems, ultimately achieving a dual-driver effect: cost reduction and efficiency gains on the supply side, coupled with deeper monetization potential on the demand side. It is important to note, however, that the technology sector is inherently volatile. While AI applications hold vast promise, investors must be particularly mindful of short-term fluctuation risks!
For investing in AI applications, consider the following: Software ETF 515230 Guotai CES Software Index ETF Connect Fund Class A 012636 Class C 012637 Class E 021672 Computer ETF 512720 Guotai CES Computer Theme ETF Connect Fund Class A 160224 Class C 010210 Class E 022541 Game ETF 516010 Guotai CES Animation & Game ETF Connect Fund Class A 012728 Class C 012729 Class E 022481 Film/Media ETF 516620 Risk Warning: Market views are subject to change based on evolving factors and should not be the sole basis for altering investment decisions or selecting specific products. The aforementioned ETFs are equity funds, with expected returns and risk levels higher than hybrid funds, bond funds, and money market funds. These ETFs are index funds, primarily employing full replication strategies to track their target indices, and their risk-return characteristics resemble those of the market portfolio represented by the target index. The aforementioned Connect Funds target equity index ETFs, with theoretically higher expected returns and risk levels than hybrid funds, bond funds, and money market funds. These funds primarily invest in the target ETF to track the index performance, exhibiting risk-return characteristics similar to the target index and the securities market it represents. Investors should fully understand the differences between fund systematic investment plans and savings methods like installment savings. Fund systematic investing is a simple way to guide long-term investment and average cost, but it does not eliminate the inherent risks of fund investment, guarantee returns, or serve as an equivalent replacement for savings. Before investing, carefully read the Fund Contract, Prospectus, Product Key Facts Statement, and Risk Disclosure Statement to understand the fund's risk-return profile and assess its suitability based on your investment objectives, time horizon, experience, and financial situation. Funds carry risks; invest cautiously.
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