China's tech boom: market bets on technological sovereignty and outpaces Nasdaq
Since the beginning of 2026, Chinese tech stocks have risen by 13%, surpassing the Nasdaq 100 index growth, while Hong Kong-based peers gained nearly 6%. The main driver behind this surge is a wave of breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, robotics, and commercial rockets, fundamentally shifting investors’ perception of China from a global factory to a genuine technological competitor to the US.
Over the past year, the market capitalization of 33 leading Chinese AI companies increased by $732 billion. Despite this rapid growth, the sector’s potential remains vast, as the current valuation of China’s AI industry is only 6.5% of that of the US. This reflects strong market confidence and investment focus on China’s technological sovereignty.
This rapid advancement suggests that China’s tech sector could reshape the global technology landscape in the coming years, intensifying competition on the international stage.
Alona Shevtsova says that we are witnessing a structural shift in global technological competition. China is no longer just scaling up production—it is scaling up innovation. Investors' growing interest in Chinese AI and robotics indicates a reassessment of risks and opportunities: the market increasingly perceives China as a long-term technology player capable of imposing its own standards, rather than merely imitating Western ones.
