In afternoon trading today (October 9), cybersecurity-related stocks staged a sharp rebound, with NSFOCUS Technologies Group Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 300369) and Qilin Xinan both hitting the 20% daily limit up, while Tianrongxin, Gee Software, and Great Wisdom each rose 10% to their limit. The software development ETF HuaBao (159036), which tracks an index comprising 107 constituent stocks in the software development industry, dipped to a new low for the year in early trading before rapidly rebounding, gaining more than 4% intraday and currently up 3.93%, recovering its 5-day moving average.
On the news front, Anthropic is collaborating with the U.S. government to expand usage permissions for its AI models, allowing verified institutions to conduct high-risk offensive testing against critical infrastructure security systems, including Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Claude Mythos 5.1, and future new models. The statement said authorized institutions can conduct "high-risk offensive testing" on security systems designed to protect critical infrastructure such as power grids, banks, and flight operations systems.
CITIC Securities believes that the new security risks brought by AI are translating into real orders, security spending is expected to continue occupying a higher priority in IT budgets, and domestic AI security demand is expected to "gradually transition from thematic catalysts to order fulfillment."
At the domestic policy level, the "Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Cyber and Information Enterprises (2026-2030)" was issued on August 21, 2026, proposing to accelerate legislation in emerging fields such as AI, improve algorithm governance, and implement network data security management regulations.
Guotai Haitong Securities pointed out that this means AI security is no longer a value-added item that vendors sell to customers, but a mandatory item on the compliance checklist, representing institutional demand rather than cyclical demand.
Jinyuan Securities believes that AI is currently evolving from "generating content" to "executing operations on behalf of users," with Agents able to autonomously browse web pages, invoke applications, and complete transactions, simultaneously elevating security risks. As personal Agents gain higher system permissions, AI security demand is expected to extend further from traditional network security and endpoint security to areas including Agent identity and permission management, runtime environment isolation, behavioral auditing, and data security.
Zheshang Securities stated that AI both improves the efficiency of traditional security products and brings demand for large model and Agent protection. Leading vendors with security data, customer scenarios, and model capabilities are expected to benefit.
Hardware's Ceiling May Signal Software's Spring
The software development industry as a whole is currently in an upward cycle, but it is uncertain which sub-sector or individual stock will outperform, so investors may consider gaining broad industry exposure through the software development ETF HuaBao (159036)—comprising 107 constituent stocks and comprehensively covering AI+finance, AI+healthcare, AI+office, AI+education, AI+information security, AI+government affairs, and other sectors. With AI empowerment plus information technology innovation-driven demand plus policy support, the software development sector is poised to ride the momentum.
In terms of valuation, as of October 9, the software development index's price-to-earnings ratio (TTM) stands at 165.70 times, lower than more than 78% of the time range since listing, indicating relatively prominent valuation cost-effectiveness and margin of safety.
*Institutional views reference sources: Zheshang Securities' September 22 report "Computer Industry Commentary: AI Security Demand and Landscape Expected to Be Reshaped"; Zhongtai Securities' September 17 report "Computer Industry: National Cybersecurity Awareness Week Opens, Focus on AI Native Cybersecurity Defense System Progress."
ETF fee-related notes: The software development ETF HuaBao does not charge a sales service fee. When investors subscribe to or redeem fund shares, the subscription and redemption agent brokerage may charge a commission of no more than 0.3%. On-exchange trading fees are subject to actual charges by the securities company.
Risk disclosure: The software development ETF HuaBao passively tracks the CSI All-Dividend Software Development Index. The index's base date is December 31, 2021, and its publication date is March 29, 2023. The fund is issued and managed by HuaBao Fund, and the distribution agency does not bear responsibility for the product's investment and redemption. Investors should carefully read the fund's legal documents such as the "Fund Contract," "Prospectus," and "Fund Product Information Summary" to understand the fund's risk-return characteristics and select products suitable for their own risk tolerance. The fund manager has assessed the fund's risk level as R3-Medium Risk, suitable for balanced-type (C3) and above investors. Suitability matching opinions should be based on the sales institution's assessment. Sales institutions (including the fund manager's direct sales channel and other sales institutions) conduct risk evaluations of the fund in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. Investors should promptly pay attention to the suitability opinions issued by sales institutions and rely on their matching results. Suitability opinions among different sales institutions are not necessarily consistent, and the fund product risk level evaluation results issued by fund sales institutions shall not be lower than the risk level evaluation results made by the fund manager. Differences exist between the fund contract's descriptions of fund risk-return characteristics and fund risk levels due to different consideration factors. Investors should understand the fund's risk-return situation and carefully select fund products based on their own investment objectives, time horizon, investment experience, and risk tolerance, bearing risks themselves. The China Securities Regulatory Commission's registration of this fund does not indicate that it makes any substantive judgment or guarantee regarding the fund's investment value, market prospects, or returns. Past performance of the fund and its net asset value levels do not predict future performance, and the performance of other funds managed by the fund manager does not constitute a guarantee of this fund's performance. Funds involve risks, and investment requires caution! MACD golden cross signals have formed—these stocks are performing well!
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