The most recent tech sell-off underscores that it is nonetheless a distinct sport for investing in China versus the U.S. “The U.S. decline was primarily triggered by earnings miss[es] from some market leaders, however in China it was primarily sentiment spillover plus portfolio adjustment/rotation,” mentioned Ding Wenjie, funding strategist for world capital funding at China Asset Administration Co. “For the chip and AI sector, the long-term drivers of each home substitution and world AI computing demand stays intact,” she mentioned, including that, “in addition to chips, China’s electrical and grid tools firms and supplies sector may even profit from the AI capex cycle.” Following final week’s U.S. tech inventory plunge, China’s tech giants tumbled in Hong Kong buying and selling, sending the sector index right into a bear market . Chip firms Hua Hong Semiconductor and SMIC had been among the many greatest losers during the last 5 buying and selling days with losses of almost 15% and round 10%, respectively. Brief video and synthetic intelligence video technology firm Kuaishou fell by 11% throughout the identical time interval. Tencent misplaced round 9.5%, and Alibaba fell greater than 8% in Hong Kong during the last 5 buying and selling days. However that did not cease mainland China-based buyers from pouring into Tencent and Alibaba, the highest two Hong Kong shares by internet mainland investor shopping for on Wednesday and Thursday, in accordance with Wind Info knowledge out there as of Friday afternoon. All of it comes right down to a major hole in valuations. “The latest volatility in China’s tech sector, notably within the Hong Kong market, has extra to do with spillover sentiment from weak spot in Wall Road,” mentioned Brian Tycangco, an analyst at Stansberry Analysis. In his view, “China’s markets have mainly solely simply begun their bull part. Valuation multiples haven’t had the chance but to increase to a level that may warrant concern even within the AI and chip-related sectors,” Tycangco mentioned. He identified that the KraneShares CSI China Web ETF (KWEB) nonetheless trades at 16 occasions its price-to-earnings ratio, whereas the mainland China tech innovation-focused KraneShares SSE STAR Market 50 Index ETF (KSTR) trades at 45 occasions. “That is not very excessive contemplating the anticipated development charge of the AI market in China, which is greater than doubling each three years,” Tycangco mentioned. Prime performers within the STAR 50 Index over the previous 5 buying and selling days included semiconductor supplies firm SICC, vacuum robotic firm Roborock, AI industrial automation firm Supcon and smartphone maker Transsion. That is excluding solar-related names that climbed amid stories of potential new enterprise offers tied to Elon Musk. “China and Hong Kong [stocks] enter 2026 from a place of low expectations. Valuations mirror important pessimism,” Singapore-based Raffles Household Workplace mentioned in its 2026 funding outlook launched final week. “Regardless of macro softness, China’s digital economic system and AI ecosystem proceed to increase quickly. Notably, earnings expectations within the expertise sector have remained secure, and valuations are considerably extra enticing versus world friends,” mentioned the agency, whose personal fairness arm disclosed stakes in Anthropic and SpaceX. “Towards this dynamic panorama, we stay constructive on world equities, with a continued desire for america and selective alternatives in China/Hong Kong the place coverage alignment and innovation tendencies current pockets of power,” the report mentioned. Its asset allocation technique for 2026 confirmed elevated publicity to China and Hong Kong shares, whereas decreased U.S. large-cap holdings. Whereas investor considerations about extreme valuations in U.S. AI have constructed up for months, Chinese language AI developments emphasize how native companies usually are not solely utilizing the tech in another way, but additionally charging far much less for it . Chinese language firms are additionally much more targeted on utilizing AI for consumer-facing purposes , at the same time as Beijing pushes for native AI chip and infrastructure growth. Within the newest signal of a pivot towards home-grown expertise, robotaxi operator Pony.AI closed about 0.4% increased in Hong Kong buying and selling Friday after saying a partnership with chip maker Moore Threads for growing autonomous driving expertise. Moore Threads, which went public on Shanghai’s Star board in December , closed about half a % increased.