Sci-Tech Semiconductor Equipment ETF Penghua rises over 6.4%, Samsung Electronics' performance greatly exceeds market expectations

Ask AI · What are the unique driving factors of the current storage cycle compared to the past?

The semiconductor sector continues to rise, and in terms of news, on April 7th local time, Samsung Electronics released its preliminary Q1 performance report, expecting its operating profit to reach 57.2 trillion won, more than eight times the 6.69 trillion won from the same period last year. Samsung expects its Q1 profit to hit a record high, increasing over eight times year-on-year, far exceeding market expectations. The reason is the surge in demand for AI infrastructure leading to supply bottlenecks in storage chips, with chip prices also rising accordingly.

Yijian Securities pointed out that storage chips will enter a new round of price increases in Q4 2025. The three major storage giants—Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix—are gradually raising contract prices for DRAM and NAND Flash products, with spot prices also continuing to rise. Looking back at historical cycles, the price increases of storage chips from 2016 to 2018 were directly driven by upgrades in smartphone configurations; from 2020 to 2023, benefiting from online economy and remote work scenarios boosting PC and other terminal shipments, combined with pandemic-related inventory buildup in the supply chain, which pushed the storage market upward in stages. Unlike previous storage cycles that relied on a single driving logic, the third storage cycle starting in 2024 shows a multi-factor resonance driven by cloud providers increasing capital expenditure to meet explosive AI server demand, continuous upgrades in smartphone configurations, and more. Summarizing historical patterns, iPhone memory capacity typically undergoes an upgrade every 2-4 years; storage capacity upgrades occur approximately every 4 years. After the storage capacity upgrade in the iPhone in 2025, its memory capacity is expected to be upgraded again. Such intensive and continuous upgrades are expected to help extend the global storage chip market’s price increase cycle into 2026.

As of 14:40 on April 8, 2026, the Shanghai STAR Market Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Theme Index (950125) surged strongly by 6.43%, with constituent stocks such as Aisen Shares up 14.90%, Huahai Chengke up 13.17%, Oulai New Materials up 10.55%, Xingfu Electronics, Helin Weina, and others following suit. The ChiNext Semiconductor Equipment ETF Penghua (589020) rose 6.40%, hitting three consecutive gains. The latest price is 1.36 yuan.

The ChiNext Semiconductor Equipment ETF Penghua closely tracks the Shanghai STAR Market Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Theme Index, which selects listed companies involved in semiconductor materials and equipment within the STAR Market as index samples, reflecting the overall performance of semiconductor materials and equipment listed companies on the STAR Market.

Data shows that as of March 31, 2026, the top ten holdings of the Shanghai STAR Market Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Theme Index (950125) are TuoJing Technology, Huahai Qingke, SMIC, Zhongke FeiCe, Anji Technology, Shanghai Silicon Industry, XinYuan Micro, Huafeng Testing, TianYue Advanced, and FuChuang Precision, with the top ten holdings accounting for 74.31% of the total.