On August 7, during early morning trading, A-share and Hong Kong hard-tech stocks rallied together, with Z.AI surging nearly 15%, KB Chemical and Guanghe Technology rising over 11%, and Shenghong Technology and Tianshu Zhixin climbing over 8%. The largest and most liquid Hong Kong-traded IT ETF of its kind, Huabao (159131), saw its on-exchange price fluctuate higher, gaining 1.49% as it reclaimed its 20-day moving average during the session. The real-time trading volume exceeded 800 million yuan, with daily trading activity steadily increasing.
On the news front, on August 6, DeepSeek issued an official announcement, planning to significantly raise its API service pricing in the near term, with expected increases being substantial. Recently, domestic large models such as DeepSeek, Seedance, MiniMax, Kimi, and Qianwen have released new versions intensively. These Chinese large models are increasingly challenging the top-tier versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude in advanced offerings, while their accessible versions leverage open-source ecosystems and cost-effectiveness, leading to growing usage volumes.
Where to begin
Guosheng Securities noted that capital expenditures from North American cloud service providers have not yet peaked and are expected to continue rising. As multimodal large models, embodied intelligence, and AI agents deeply penetrate industrial sectors, the demand for AI computing power is shifting from the "training phase" to "massive inference," with no slowdown in growth rate.
Why only 10 ASX 200 shares?
According to a research report from Dongwu Securities, the AI tech hardware sector has recently shown initial signs of a rebound after a significant deleveraging cycle. Regarding the relative performance of Hong Kong stocks, the report suggested that they remain in a window period for catch-up gains, with clear structural opportunities. However, short-term risks of stagnation or pullbacks exist. Whether the rebound continues into August depends on several factors: first, whether Trump can effectively manage macroeconomic pressures, as recent tensions in the Middle East and the Fed's ambiguous stance have kept risk appetite cautious, with high 10-year U.S. Treasury yields posing a major obstacle. A de-escalation and drop in oil prices could lower bond yields, improving risk sentiment and benefiting Hong Kong's liquidity and valuations. Second, the rebound in AI tech hardware has a dual impact on Hong Kong stocks. While capital may not immediately shift back to tech hardware, strong earnings from U.S. AI midstream and downstream companies could create a spillover effect, benefiting the Hang Seng Tech Index. Hong Kong's valuation advantages and policy support in AI applications, internet platforms, and domestic computing power chains could attract some capital inflows.
Hong Kong stocks offer scarce "pure" hard-tech exposure! Huabao (159131), the market's first and largest Hong Kong-traded IT ETF supporting T+0 trading, with an OTC fund code of 026755, tracks the Hong Kong Stock Connect IT Index, composed of 85% hardware and 15% software. It focuses on Hong Kong-listed "semiconductors, electronics, and computer software" stocks, covering 60 hard-tech companies. The two major wafer foundries, SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor, account for over 26% combined weight, while Lenovo Group, a leader in domestic AI PCs, has a weight exceeding 10%. PCB leaders Kingboard Holdings and KB Chemical together represent over 11% of the index. These holdings are among the highest among all products tracking this index. Additionally, on June 15, the index added several new Hong Kong hard-tech players including Z.AI, Shenghong Technology, Tianshu Zhixin, and Biren Technology. The index excludes large-cap internet companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and Meituan, offering higher sharpness to capture Hong Kong's AI hard-tech rally.
Data source: CSI Index, as of June 30, 2026. Image generated by AI. Market volatility may be significant; short-term gains or losses do not predict future performance, and fund investments may incur losses. Investors must rationally manage their positions and risk based on their own financials and risk tolerance. The individual stocks mentioned are for display only and do not constitute investment advice or represent the holdings or trading activity of any fund managed by the issuer. Data sources: CSI Index Company, Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. Reference institutional views: Dongwu Securities, August 5, 2026, "Tech Rebound, How Will Hong Kong Stocks React?" Note: "Market's first" refers to Hong Kong Stock Connect IT ETF Huabao being the first ETF tracking the CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect IT Composite Index. As of July 21, 2026, Huabao's latest on-exchange scale was 2.062 billion yuan, the largest among 8 ETFs tracking the same index; its year-to-date average daily trading volume was 938 million yuan, the highest among those 8 ETFs. The underlying CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect IT Composite Index (HKD) recorded annual returns of -9.54%, -34.47%, -0.25%, 21.58%, and 39.30% from 2021 to 2025, with annual volatilities of 4.13%, 4.63%, 4.00%, 5.49%, and 5.45% over the same period. Past performance does not guarantee future results. For ETF-related fees, investors may incur commissions of up to 0.5% when subscribing or redeeming fund shares. On-exchange trading fees are based on actual charges by securities companies, with no sales service fees. Huabao CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect IT ETF Feeder Fund subscription fees: below 1 million yuan at 0.30%, 1 million to 2 million yuan at 0.20%, and above 2 million yuan at 1,000 yuan per transaction; redemption fees for individual investors: within 7 days at 1.50%, 7 days or more at 0.00%; for institutional investors: within 7 days at 1.50%, 7 to 30 days at 1.00%, 30 to 180 days at 0.50%, and 180 days or more at 0.00%; no sales service fees. Risk disclaimer: The fund passively tracks the CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect IT Composite Index, with a base date of November 14, 2014, and release date of June 23, 2017. Index constituent stocks are adjusted based on the index's compilation rules. Back-tested historical performance does not predict future index performance. The stocks shown are for display only and do not constitute investment advice or represent the holdings of any fund managed by the issuer. According to the fund manager's assessment, the fund's risk level is R4 (medium-high risk), suitable for aggressive (C4) and above investors. Suitability opinions should be based on sales institutions. Any information in this article is for reference only. Investors must make independent investment decisions. Any views, analyses, or forecasts do not constitute investment advice, and the issuer is not liable for any direct or indirect losses arising from the use of this content. Fund investments carry risks; past performance does not guarantee future results, and the performance of other funds managed by the same manager is not a guarantee. Fund investment requires caution.
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