New IPOs this year exhibit "simultaneous improvement in quantity and quality," with capital market and new-quality productive forces mutually empowering.

Securities Daily reporter Wu Xiaolu

On June 26, Huike Co., Ltd. listed on the A-share market, raising 84.93 billion yuan in its IPO (initial public offering) (after the over-allotment option was fully exercised). According to Wind data, as of June 26 this year, 69 new companies have been added to the A-share market, with total fundraising of 702.13 billion yuan.

Overall, new A-share listings this year have seen both “quantity and quality” rise together. Not only has the number of new shares and the scale of financing achieved double-digit growth compared with the same period last year, but a group of benchmark enterprises in cutting-edge technology fields have also gone public in clusters, with fresh capital continually tilting toward “new” development. At the same time, high-quality listing resources keep strengthening the market’s development resilience, and a favorable development pattern is taking shape in which the capital market and new quality productive forces are empowering each other in both directions and progressing together in coordination.

Wei Fengchun, chief economist at China Asset Management (China Creation Jinhe) Fund, said in an interview with Securities Daily reporter that the overall quality of newly added listed companies this year is relatively strong, with prominent characteristics in science and technology innovation, and the capital market continues to help consolidate China’s industrial chain capabilities of independent, controllable development.

**“Hard-tech” companies have become the main force in listings **Innovative systems are being implemented in an orderly manner

In the first half of this year, A-share IPO review and registration efficiency has improved significantly. The average time for IPO review, registration, and issuance has been greatly compressed in the STAR Market and the ChiNext.

“Hard-tech” companies have become the main force in listings. Among the newly listed companies this year, 67 are strategic emerging industry enterprises, accounting for 97%, covering multiple key areas such as semiconductor equipment and materials, micro-displays, industrial robots, intelligent manufacturing equipment, and innovative medical devices. Companies including Shenghe Jingwei Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Suzhou Lianxun Instruments Co., Ltd., and Shiya Technology Co., Ltd. occupy leading positions in domestic and even global markets, successfully breaking overseas technology monopolies.

Judging from the characteristics of newly listed companies this year, Tang Jincao, chairman of Shuimu Capital and founder of the fund-of-funds research center, said in an interview with Securities Daily reporter: First, the “hard-tech” attributes of listed companies are prominent; technology barriers are high, and many companies are globally leading in specific sub-segments of their industries. Second, industry concentration is high, concentrating in areas such as semiconductors, intelligent manufacturing equipment, and innovative medical devices, which aligns with the national direction of industrial transformation and upgrading. Third, market recognition is high. Although most companies are still in the investment stage with relatively weak profitability, market subscriptions are hot.

Overall, the first-day performance of new stocks listed during the year has been good. According to Wind data, as of June 25, the average first-day gain of 68 newly listed stocks was 280.67%.

In addition, the capital market’s tiered and classified service system is becoming clearer. From the perspective of listing venues, the number of new listings added this year on the Shanghai and Shenzhen main boards, the STAR Market, the ChiNext, and the Beijing Stock Exchange were 15, 11, 9, and 34 respectively. Li Xiao, deputy director of the Capital Market Supervision and Reform Research Center at Central University of Finance and Economics, said in an interview with Securities Daily reporter that the Beijing Stock Exchange takes on 34 innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, focusing on serving small and medium-sized technology enterprises. The STAR Market and the ChiNext focus on “hard-tech” and growth-oriented innovation enterprises.

Meanwhile, the innovative systems are being implemented in an orderly manner, continuously empowering science-and-technology innovation enterprises to list and raise financing. A year after the STAR Market reform “1+6” policy measures were introduced, two STAR Market IPO-planning companies have applied the pre-review mechanism, effectively improving the quality of project applications and review efficiency. For IPO-planning companies that apply the fifth set of STAR Market standards, more than half have disclosed information about senior professional institutional investors; the system for senior professional institutional investors has played a positive role in stabilizing the market, demonstrating industry practices, and guiding value.

Tang Jincao said that the senior professional institutional investor system has produced at least three levels of effects. The first is “filtering”: senior institutions can select projects based on their professional capabilities, which plays a screening role. The second is “stabilizing”: these institutions generally have relatively long lock-up periods for their shareholdings, reducing stock price volatility. The third is “demonstration”: disclosing the participation information of professional institutions conveys a value signal to the market, guiding other investors to view cutting-edge technology enterprises rationally and helping avoid excessive speculation or panic selling.

**The science-and-technology innovation background is becoming increasingly prominent **The valuation system is undergoing profound changes

The rapid development of new quality productive forces also injects lasting endogenous momentum into the long-term stable development of the capital market. With the successive introduction of policy measures such as the “Eight Measures for the STAR Market” and the “Six Measures for Mergers and Acquisitions,” the “science-and-technology content” of the capital market continues to rise. According to data from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, currently the market value of the A-share technology sector accounts for more than three-tenths. Among listed companies with market value exceeding 1 trillion yuan, the proportion of technology enterprises has reached 45%.

Among newly listed companies during the year, 26 technology enterprises have market values exceeding 100 billion yuan, and 4 of them have entered the tier of market values exceeding 1 trillion yuan.

As the proportion of technology enterprises increases, the operating logic of the capital market is gradually shifting toward innovation-driven development. Wei Fengchun said that the current A-share valuation system has undergone fundamental changes, with R&D, patents, and technological potential becoming important bases for pricing. At the same time, the continuous expansion of technology assets attracts long-term capital such as insurance and pension funds to enter the market, reducing short-term speculative volatility. In addition, listed companies rely on mergers and acquisitions and equity incentive arrangements to form a positive cycle of financing and R&D, continuously empowering new quality productive forces.

Foreign institutions are also actively laying out China’s technology assets. Li Xiao said that technology assets have become an important direction for foreign capital to increase allocations to A-shares, and the listing of high-quality technology enterprises helps enhance the attractiveness of China’s assets to foreign capital.

Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at the 2026 Lujiazui Forum that a batch of high-quality innovative enterprises have efficiently landed on the A-share market, and the situation of the capital market and new quality productive forces moving toward each other and achieving mutual success is accelerating.

While heat in the science-and-technology innovation track continues to climb, market participants have warned of related risks. Li Xiao believes that currently trading congestion in technology stocks is relatively high, and some underlying assets have already priced in expectations for the future beyond what is justified. Meanwhile, strict supervision is needed to prevent phenomena such as concept speculation and “riding on hot topics.” Going forward, performance differentiation will cause capital to further concentrate on “hard-tech” companies that have the ability to realize orders.

**Reform dividends continue to be released **Capital precisely empowers future industries

Since this year began, the reform of the “two innovation boards” has continued to deepen, and the capital market’s inclusiveness toward emerging industries and future industries has been significantly enhanced. In April, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the “Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of the ChiNext to Better Serve the Development of New Quality Productive Forces,” supporting the issuance and listing of high-quality innovative enterprises that are not yet profitable and high-quality innovative enterprises in areas including new consumption and modern services; it also added a fourth set of listing standards for the ChiNext, providing better financial services for high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises in emerging industries and future industries.

Recently, the STAR Market reform has been further deepened. On June 17, the Shanghai Stock Exchange issued the review and guidance for companies in artificial intelligence large-model enterprises to apply the fifth set of listing standards for the STAR Market, and solicited comments on the revision of the “Interim Provisions on the Submission and Recommendation of Applications for Issuance and Listing of STAR Market Enterprises on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (Draft for Comments),” supporting more “hard-tech” companies in fields such as quantum technology, biological manufacturing, and embodied intelligence that meet the requirements to list on the STAR Market.

As reform dividends continue to be released, companies from frontier industries such as artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, the low-altitude economy, quantum technology, and biological manufacturing are actively advancing their IPO processes.

According to data from the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing exchanges, as of June 25, 349 companies’ listing applications are in the review and registration process. Among them, domestic memory-chip leader Changxin Technology Group Co., Ltd. and a leader in the quantum technology field, Guo Yi Quantum Technology (Hefei) Co., Ltd., have already completed IPO registration on the STAR Market and are awaiting issuance and listing. Yushu Technology Co., Ltd., a leading embodied intelligence enterprise, has submitted registration for a STAR Market IPO. For commercial aerospace top players, Zhongke Yuhang Technology Co., Ltd. and LandSpace Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd.’s STAR Market IPO applications have already been responded to with inquiries. The fourth set of listing standards for the ChiNext has welcomed 2 applicant companies—Leju Intelligent (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Tengdun Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. These two companies are domestic leading enterprises in humanoid robots and intelligent flying vehicles, respectively.

Looking ahead, Li Xiao believes that next, the listing of hard-tech enterprises that are not yet profitable is expected to become normalized. The IPO industry map will be highly aligned with national plans for strategic emerging industries, and the capital market’s tiered, differentiated service system will also become clearer.

With institutional reform and inclusiveness upgrades in the capital market, the underlying development logic of the venture capital industry is being reshaped in depth. “For venture capital institutions, the most direct impact is that exit channels have become wider and clearer,” Tang Jincao said. In the past, for investments in areas such as quantum computing and nuclear fusion energy, exits were basically limited to waiting for acquisitions. Now, the STAR Market has clearly opened its doors to these fields, closing the logic loop from “investment” to “exit,” which allows institutions to dare to get involved earlier in the investment cycle. In addition, the venture capital market’s valuation system will also move toward greater rationality, placing higher demands on institutions’ professional capabilities. Only by truly understanding technology roadmaps and industrial ecosystems can institutions invest in real technology enterprises.

While increasing the inclusiveness of the capital market system, relevant supporting rules also need to be further improved. Wei Fengchun suggested that first, optimize the long-term fund assessment mechanism, reduce constraints on short-term returns, and match the long-term R&D characteristics of hard-tech; second, introduce differentiated information disclosure implementation rules for frontier technology enterprises, refine requirements for disclosures on technology, patents, and R&D risks, and press intermediaries to fulfill due diligence responsibilities; third, smooth venture capital exit channels and improve rules for mergers and acquisitions and equity transfers; and finally, improve market-making and hedging tools.