Southern Finance 21st Century Economic Report Journalist Zhang Weize Intern Zhang Boyang Hong Kong Report

Hong Kong stock technology investment welcomes new tools. On June 26, the first ETF tracking the HKEX Tech 100 Index officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This ETF extends investment horizons from traditional internet platforms to hard tech fields such as the AI industry chain, providing investors with new options for allocating core Chinese AI assets.

Unlike the well-known Hang Seng Tech Index, the HKEX Tech 100 Index was designed from the outset to make the AI industry chain one of its core themes. The index compilation rules disclosed by the HKEX show that the index defines six cutting-edge tracks: artificial intelligence, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, electric vehicles and intelligent driving, information technology, the internet, and industrial robotics, with more than half of the tracks directly pointing to the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the AI industry chain.

In terms of constituent stocks, the index selects 100 Hong Kong Stock Connect targets that meet technology attributes. In addition to trillion-dollar market cap leaders like Tencent and Xiaomi, leading companies in niche fields such as CATL and BeiGene are also included. This somewhat compensates for the Hang Seng Tech Index's insufficient coverage in new productive forces such as computing power, semiconductors, robotics, and biotechnology.

To ensure the technological content and investability of the index, the HKEX Tech 100 Index has set clear entry thresholds. Constituent stocks must meet the condition of having R&D investment accounting for no less than 3% of the past two fiscal years or a revenue growth rate of no less than 5%; at the same time, the average daily trading volume over the past six months must not be less than HKD 20 million.

It is worth noting that the index introduces a unique "fast inclusion mechanism." For stocks newly included in the Hong Kong Stock Connect, if their market capitalization ranks within the top 35, they can be included in the index without waiting for the usual six-month observation period. This mechanism aims to enhance the index's efficiency in capturing emerging technology leaders.

Data shows that as of the end of May, the price-to-earnings ratio of the HKEX Tech 100 Index was 25.5 times. In horizontal comparison, this valuation level is about 71% of the Nasdaq 100 Index and 55% of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, placing it at a relatively low level among major global technology indices.