Technology sector indices hit new highs frequently; heavy-asset funds' performance "rises with the tide"

Securities Times Reporter Wang Minghong

After the May Day holiday, A-shares saw a relatively strong round of rallies in technology stocks. In just three trading days (May 6 to 8), indices such as the STAR Market 50, the ChiNext Index, and the CSI 2000 all hit new highs in recent years. In this “structural bull” market led by artificial intelligence, computing power, and semiconductors, with the share prices of heavyweight stocks repeatedly setting new records, funds tracking the indices also performed remarkably well.

Comprehensive Surge in Tech Growth

Wind data shows that from May 6 to 8, the A-share market experienced a strong wave of index rally over three trading days. On May 6, the STAR Market 50 index touched 1,715.08 points intraday, hitting a new high in nearly six years. After that, more broad-based and thematic indices—including the STAR Composite, STAR 200, the ChiNext Index, the CSI 2000, and Wind All A—continued to rise in a relay fashion, and all of them reached either interim or historical highs.

According to incomplete statistics, the indices that have recently posted new highs cover multiple sectors. They mainly include the STAR 200, the STAR Composite Index, the CSI A50, the CSI A500, the CSI 2000, the STAR Entrepreneurship 50, the ChiNext Index, the ChiNext 50, the Shenzhen 50, the Shenzhen 100, the Guozheng 2000, Wind Innovation & Entrepreneurship, the Wind Hong Kong Stock Connect—Mainland stocks index, the Wind micro-cap stock index, Wind All A, and the average stock price of All A. Such widespread and concentrated index breakouts are relatively rare in A-share history, reflecting a strong rise in overall market bullish sentiment.

It is worth noting that traditional large-cap blue-chip indices such as the CSI 300 and the SSE 50 have not yet broken through their historical highs, which further highlights the structural characteristics of this round of rally—market funds are clearly tilting toward the tech growth style.

In terms of attention, the stocks that have been especially hot after the holiday are mainly concentrated in the technology sector. Among them, technology leaders such as Dongshan Precision, EasySail, Zhongji Xuchuang, Cambrian, Haiguang Information, and Lankei Technology rank near the top of the popularity list, and investors’ continued pursuit of the key tech themes—such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and communications—remains ongoing.

Strong Performance from Thematic Funds

Fund products tracking the above indices that posted new highs have also delivered outstanding performance. As of May 8, in the ETF lineup tracking the STAR 50 index, mainstream products such as the Huaxia STAR 50 ETF, the E Fund STAR 50 ETF, the ICBC STAR 50 ETF, and the Invesco STAR 50 ETF generally saw year-to-date returns of over 20%.

For the CSI 2000 ETF segment, the Bosera CSI 2000 ETF led with a 20.52% year-to-date return; the Huaxia CSI 2000 ETF and the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 2000 ETF also posted year-to-date returns close to 19%. Meanwhile, in the STAR Entrepreneurship 50 ETF product line, E Fund’s STAR Entrepreneurship ETF returned 23.73% since the beginning of the year. Products from Guotai and Southern Fund, as well as from Yinxiang Fund, also all exceeded 23%. These cross-market technology index funds have attracted investor favor and have become important tools for positioning in leaders on the STAR Market and the ChiNext.

In fact, the lineup and scale of ChiNext ETFs are even larger. E Fund’s ChiNext ETF delivered a year-to-date performance return of 19.39%, and the fund leads the market by a wide margin with a scale of 46.261 billion yuan. GF Fund’s ChiNext ETF, Tianhong’s ChiNext ETF, and other products have also remained actively traded; their year-to-date performance returns are 18.98% and 18.92%, respectively.

Worth noting is that, as of May 8, the public fund market produced the first “double-up fund” of the year—GF Yuanjian Wisdom Selection A—which recorded a 112% year-to-date gain to top the performance ranking among all public funds. The fund has nearly all of its holdings allocated to the AI computing power industry chain, especially focusing on two major sub-sectors: optical communications and storage chips.

AI Computing Power and Others Become Core Engines

Who is leading this wave of index breakouts to new highs? A deeper analysis of the composition of the above indices that hit new highs clearly shows that the artificial intelligence computing power industry chain and the semiconductor sector are currently absolutely dominant in the market.

For example, the top ten constituents of the STAR 50 index have a combined weight of 59.94%, showing a high degree of concentration. As of May 8, Cambrian ranked first with a weight of 12.97%, followed by Haiguang Information (9.97%) and SMIC (8.59%). Together, these three semiconductor leaders account for more than 31%. Lankei Technology (7.18%), WeMicro Semiconductor (5.97%), A Lightsemi Corp. (4.18%), Phison Electronics (3.50%), Tuojing Technology (3.04%), Kingsoft Office (2.36%), and United Imaging Healthcare (2.20%) rank from fourth to tenth. It can be seen that among the top ten constituents of this index, all of them are leading companies in semiconductors, AI chips, and high-end manufacturing.

The weight distribution of the ChiNext Index is more diversified, but it still focuses on the tech main theme. Among them, CATL ranks first with a weight of 18.53%, and among the “double giants” in optical communications, Zhongji Xuchuang (12.18%) and EasySail (7.75%) rank second and third, respectively, bringing the combined weight to nearly 39%. Other top-ten holdings include Eastmoney (4.34%), Sungrow Power Supply (3.37%), Shenghong Technology (3.31%), Tianfu Communication (2.26%), Inovance Technology (2.24%), Sanhuan Group (1.78%), and Mindray Medical (1.70%), all of which also make the top ten by weight. Among the top ten constituents of this index, tech manufacturing enterprises occupy an absolute dominant position.

Multiple institutions point out that the first-quarter report performance has already preliminarily confirmed high levels of prosperity in the technology sector. In the first quarter of 2026, the profit growth rate of non-financial enterprises on A-shares returned to double-digit growth for the first time since 2021, and net profits in the STAR Market and ChiNext also achieved double-digit increases. The data validates the high growth in performances of sectors such as AI computing power, semiconductors, and lithium batteries.

Looking ahead, most institutions maintain a cautiously optimistic stance and believe the tech main-theme rally is still likely to continue, but the hotspots may further expand into more sub-directions.

(Editor: Dong Pingping)

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