Southbound Net Sold HK$2.495B, Dumping Chip Stocks While Adding Xiaomi and Zhipu
Taylor Wilson
Northbound capital net sold HK$2.50 billion on July 28, dumping chip and fiber-optic names while buying Xiaomi and Zhipu — funds are rotating within the AI chain, away from hardware infrastructure toward companies with products shipping.
Where did the money go?
Northbound flows recorded a net sell of HK$2.50 billion: HK$552 million via Shanghai-Connect, HK$1.94 billion via Shenzhen-Connect.
The split was stark — AI large-model and auto-tech names drew net buying; chip and fiber-optic stocks faced concentrated selling.
This means → capital is not leaving the AI theme. It is rotating inside the AI supply chain — from upstream hardware to downstream applications.
Who got bought, and why?
Xiaomi (01810) drew net buying of HK$358 million. Founder Lei Jun announced the Pengcheng technology launch event for 7:00 pm on July 30, where the Pengcheng N90 and N70 SUVs will debut.
This means → the bid is on Xiaomi's EV effort crossing from concept to production-model launch — the event is the near-term catalyst.
Zhipu (02513) drew net buying of HK$268 million after releasing its flagship model GLM-5.2, which supports million-token context windows — meaning it can process very large texts in a single pass — and ranks among the top global open-source models in international benchmarks.
Why were chip stocks sold off so hard?
Hua Hong Semi (01347) saw net selling of HK$884 million, SMIC (00981) HK$682 million, and YOFC (06869) HK$640 million — the three names alone accounted for over HK$2.2 billion in outflows.
Kingboard Laminates (01888) and GigaDevice (03986) saw net selling of HK$271 million and HK$272 million respectively.
The backdrop: Nvidia's credit-default swap (CDS) — a market gauge of default-risk pricing — posted its largest single-day jump on record on Monday.
This means → the market is reassessing the multi-role risk of Nvidia acting simultaneously as chip supplier, investor, and financing backer across the AI chain. That anxiety spilled into HK-listed AI hardware names.
What happened with Alibaba and CNOOC?
Alibaba (09988) saw net selling of HK$374 million. The EU fined its AliExpress platform €550 million under the Digital Services Act — the highest penalty since the law took effect.
CNOOC (00883) saw net selling of HK$501 million. Macquarie expects CNOOC's first-half profit to miss consensus, citing a widening discount between realized prices and Brent crude plus potential impairments. The bank kept its underperform rating and trimmed its target from HK$17.8 to HK$17.5.
Tencent (00700) saw net selling of HK$513 million; the source material cites no specific trigger.
What to watch next?
The near-term focus is Xiaomi's July 30 Pengcheng launch. The market has already bought ahead of the event; whether the reveal meets expectations will determine if this trade turns into "buy the rumor, sell the news" or sustained accumulation.
In plain terms = northbound money's logic today was clear: keep buying AI companies that ship products; sell the ones that sell hardware to AI and wait.
Whether the knock-on effects of Nvidia's CDS spike persist will determine if selling pressure on chip names eases.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.