STAR 50 Index Surges 3.85% to Record High as Semiconductor Stocks Rally Across the Board
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On June 30, A-shares' half-year finale, the STAR 50 index jumped 3.85% past 2,200 to an all-time high while semiconductor stocks hit limit-up across the board; this means → the market cast a real-money vote of confidence in the AI hardware chain at the half-year mark, but the mid-year earnings window is about to open — and whether fundamentals can take the baton from liquidity is the next critical question.
What did the full market picture look like?
STAR 50 rose 3.85% to a record. ChiNext gained 2.99%, Shenzhen Component 2.48%, but the Shanghai Composite added only 0.50% — capital clearly favored tech-growth over blue chips.
Combined turnover across Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen hit CNY 3.27 trillion, down CNY 263 billion from the previous session, yet domestic institutional net buying reached CNY 41.05 billion. This means → total volume shrank, but "smart money" sharpened its aim squarely at tech.
More than 3,000 stocks rose; the median gain was 0.49%. Decliners clustered in pharma, agriculture, consumer, chemicals and financials. In plain terms = most stocks were green, but the gap was stark — tech feasted while traditional sectors barely got scraps.
Why did semiconductors hit limit-up across the board?
Lihe Micro, Galaxycore, MEMSensing, ASR Microelectronics and JCET all hit limit-up. The semiconductor chain was the day's dominant theme.
The direct catalyst: nearly 20 global analog and power-semiconductor firms will launch a new round of price hikes on July 1 — AI-server and data-center power-management chips up 15%–25%, industrial-automation and energy-storage isolation chips up 10%–15%.
This means → the price increases are not a China-only story; they signal a global supply-demand gap. As downstream AI compute demand keeps surging, the first place it shows up in price is in "supporting-cast" components like power management and isolation chips — less glamorous than GPUs, but every server needs them.
What does Cambricon's trillion-yuan milestone and the computing-lease boom tell us?
Cambricon surged over 7% to a record high, breaching CNY 1 trillion in market cap and closing at CNY 1,595.55. In plain terms = an AI-chip company now stands shoulder to shoulder with some traditional-industry giants by market value.
The computing-power leasing sector exploded in tandem — Tongniu Information and Unis each hit limit-up, Sugon briefly touched it, and the sector rallied nearly 2.5% at its peak.
This reflects a trend shift: per Securities Times, U.S. AI investment sentiment is rotating from hardware to cloud operators, and China's computing-lease plays are riding the same wave. This means → the market is starting to price "who uses the compute," not just "who builds the chips."
How strong is the outlook for optical modules and semiconductor equipment?
GF Securities forecasts that leading optical-module makers and their key upstream suppliers are on track for sequential earnings growth in Q2, backed by sustained demand plus improving supply.
Nvidia has taken equity stakes in LITE, Coherent and Corning — companies across the optical-communications chain. This means → the AI-chip leader is investing directly in optical interconnects, effectively "rubber-stamping" high-speed optical links as a critical AI-infrastructure bottleneck.
CITIC Construction cites SEMI data: the 2026 global front-end semiconductor equipment market growth forecast was raised sharply from 16.5% to 23.5%, reaching USD 152.2 billion; Q1 global equipment shipments hit USD 36.55 billion, up 14% year-on-year — a single-quarter record. SK Hynix chairman Chey Tae-won disclosed that if all construction plans proceed on schedule, capacity by 2034 will be triple current levels.
What risks should investors watch most closely next?
Tianfu Securities warns that ChiNext is showing signs of technical exhaustion — momentum indicators are losing effectiveness after a sustained run. STAR 50 remains strong for now, but once it too shows exhaustion, crowded positions risk unwinding.
Caixin Securities flags a triple pressure overlay at the half-year mark: insurers face solvency-assessment deadlines, mutual funds face semi-annual disclosure constraints, and cross-quarter liquidity may tighten — all of which could trigger profit-taking in AI hardware and semiconductors.
In plain terms = the half-year mark is a "homework deadline" for institutional capital, giving managers an incentive to lock in gains. The core watch for July: liquidity-driven logic gives way to earnings-driven logic — only names with strong mid-year results will keep rallying.
How do institutions characterize this AI rally?
CITIC Securities compares the current AI rally to the 2021 new-energy cycle, not the 2000 dot-com bubble — the key argument being that upstream forward P/E multiples have not yet collapsed and earnings expectations are only beginning to be revised upward.
The firm favors: memory chain, gas-turbine chain, optical modules, PCBs, cloud operators, plus compute-related metals, fluorochemicals and phosphorus chemicals.
This means → if that comparison holds, we are closer to the first half of a cycle than the tail end of a bubble. But the proof point is imminent: whether the STAR 50 can hold its strength through the mid-year earnings pre-announcement period is the defining test for the next leg of the rally.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.