Chinese equities closed broadly higher on February 12 as investors piled into companies tied to AI compute and data‑centre infrastructure, while traditional consumer sectors slid. The ChiNext board outperformed, rising around 1.3%, and the STAR/tech index added roughly 1.6%, even as more than 3,200 stocks fell and the micro‑cap index slipped by over 1%.
Trading volume expanded meaningfully: turnover across Shanghai and Shenzhen reached CNY 2.14 trillion, about CNY 157.5 billion more than the previous session, a sign of concentrated enthusiasm rather than broad market strength. The Shanghai Composite eked out a 0.05% gain and the Shenzhen Component rose 0.86%, underscoring the market’s bifurcated internals.
The day’s story was the算力 (computing‑power) industry chain, where plays linked to compute leasing, data‑centre hardware and cooling systems ran hot. Several mid‑cap names recorded dramatic moves: Dawei Keji (大位科技) extended its winning streak to four consecutive daily limit‑ups, while Capital Online (首都在线) and UCloud/Youkede (优刻得) hit 20% daily limits. Chip and optical‑communications names such as Tianfu Tongxin (天孚通信) and Luoboteke/Robotec (罗博特科) made fresh highs, and chip IP/design supplier XinYuan (芯原股份) surged more than 10% after afternoon buying.
Beyond chips, adjacent industries also rallied: liquid‑cooling server suppliers and pump makers registered strong gains, and power‑grid equipment stocks such as Siyuan Electric (思源电气) and Sifang (四方股份) marked new highs, with several peers reaching daily limits. The moves reflect investor bets that China’s nascent but fast‑growing market for on‑demand compute and data‑centre capacity will be a principal beneficiary of generative AI deployment.
At the same time, large swathes of the consumer complex weakened. Cinema chains, tourism and hotels, retail and food & beverage names fell hard, with heavyweights such as Hengdian (横店影视) and Haixin Food (海欣食品) hitting limit‑down levels. The contrast between the concentrated strength in AI/compute plays and broad weakness elsewhere left the market with narrow breadth and elevated sectoral dispersion.
For international readers, these intraday dynamics matter for two reasons. First, they show how China’s equity market is tracking the global re‑rating of AI infrastructure: investors are willing to reallocate capital into hardware, data‑centre services and chip designers that can capture rising compute demand. Second, the pattern exposes a recurring risk in China’s market structure — fervid rallies among a handful of linked names can coexist with widespread declines, amplifying volatility and complicating portfolio construction for foreign and domestic investors alike.
Looking ahead, the compute‑chain rally will hinge on whether real‑economy demand for AI deployment and enterprise cloud services accelerates in China, and whether policy and financing conditions remain supportive. The broader market will be watching earnings updates, capacity announcements from cloud and hyperscale customers, and any regulatory signals that might temper speculative flows into highly leveraged momentum stocks.