Visitors interact with a robot from Unitree Robotics during the sixth China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, April 14, 2026. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)Foreign financial institutions are finding a stronger investment case in China's hard-tech industries as breakthroughs in AI, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing are driving more exports, higher earnings, and growing interest from global investors. China's high-tech exports surged over 50 percent year on year in July, well ahead of the 17.8-percent growth in total exports, customs data showed. The export gains are being mirrored in investment flows, with foreign funds moving into Chinese technology stocks and global indices adding newly listed hard-tech companies. Rob Subbaraman, head of global macro research and co-head of global markets research at Nomura, said China's low-cost and abundant electricity supply, growing talent pool and early lead in physical AI are driving the rapid development of its AI industry chain. China's development of open-weight models could accelerate their adoption by businesses, allowing productivity gains from AI as a general-purpose technology to spread more quickly across the economy, he said, citing models from Chinese firms including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI. "The lower cost of these models was another advantage," he said, adding that the benefits could extend beyond China, particularly to emerging markets that could adopt cheaper Chinese AI models. China's strength in advanced manufacturing has also become increasingly evident, said Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, pointing to China's roughly half share of global installed new energy storage capacity and the rapid growth in outbound licensing deals for innovative drugs. These trends, he said, underpin the long-term investment case for China's hard-tech sector and leading manufacturers. These strengths are increasingly being reflected in foreign investors' allocation decisions. This year, Goldman Sachs has twice raised its 12-month target for the CSI 300 on improving earnings momentum, and retained an overweight view on Chinese equities. Kinger Lau, chief China equity strategist for Goldman Sachs Research, said the bank's positive view reflected improving earnings momentum, favorable macroeconomic and liquidity conditions. A-share equities offered international investors diversification benefits that remained underappreciated, along with attractive exposure to hard-tech and AI themes, he added. Individual companies are drawing overseas interest too. ChangXin Memory Technologies surged 465.82 percent on its debut on Shanghai's STAR Market last month, reaching a market capitalization of more than 3.2 trillion yuan (about 471.28 billion U.S. dollars). U.S.-based Tema ETFs made the chipmaker a top holding at a 10.56 percent weight on its debut day, while MSCI officially added it to its China All Shares Index on Monday under a fast-track rule for large IPOs. Robotics is where the enthusiasm is most visible. Unitree, set to become China's first mainland-listed humanoid robot maker, priced its Shanghai IPO at 150.8 yuan a share, representing 10 percent of its post-offering share capital. The offering is expected to raise about 6.1 billion yuan in gross proceeds. That optimism, however, exists alongside broader economic pressures. Nathan Chow, senior economist at DBS Bank, said the imbalance between relatively strong supply and weak demand remained pronounced, with household consumption and some companies' profitability still under pressure. Investment in infrastructure could help offset the weakness in private investment in the near term, while lowering logistics and energy costs and improving the efficiency of resource allocation over the longer term, Chow said. It could also strengthen supply chains and reduce the economy's exposure to external shocks and geopolitical risks, he added. The implementation of policy measures would be key to sustaining the recovery in the second half of this year, analysts noted. Economic management requires both easing the brakes and stepping on the accelerator, said Song Yu, chief China economist at UBS Securities, adding that faster fiscal spending and the use of bond proceeds, additional policy support and better coordination between fiscal and financial policies are needed, alongside measures to remove barriers to household consumption and improve the business environment. "With stronger policy support and measures taking effect, China's economy is expected to maintain a steady recovery in the second half of the year," Chow said. 。
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