China Daily Briefing

Chinese state investment funds are dramatically ramping up support for Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor — China's second-largest contract chipmaker — with capital flowing into both the parent company and a new manufacturing facility to fuel Beijing's mature-node chip self-reliance drive. As SCMP Business reported, the capital blitz is a direct NDRC policy execution: China cannot contest the leading-edge (3nm/2nm) battle against TSMC, so the strategic pivot is to dominate legacy nodes (28nm and above) that power automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics — sectors where China needs supply chain independence. For CSI 300 investors, this is a State-directed capex theme with multi-year runway.

Analysts across multiple financial institutions are projecting Alibaba's cloud and AI unit to report greater than 50% revenue growth for the September quarter — the payoff on aggressive infrastructure investment that BABA began accelerating two years ago. SCMP Business's analyst survey frames this as the clearest signal yet that BABA's cloud division is transitioning from a growth-drag to a growth-driver, which materially changes the sum-of-the-parts valuation. The BABA +4.81% move today suggests smart money is front-running the print. For investors weighing China tech against US mega-cap AI names, Alibaba's cloud growth at a fraction of the valuation multiple is the trade the market is starting to price.

SCMP Business's five key figures for China investors this week include a Kowloon residential site fetching its highest price in nearly five years and, critically, a confirmed return of global institutional money to Chinese equities. The post-Golden Week pattern is meaningful: the holiday week generates high-frequency consumption, travel, and retail data that functions as a real-time GDP proxy. When those prints beat expectations — as they did this week with hotel stays, domestic flight volumes, and consumer spending — institutional investors use the window to add China equity exposure that was trimmed during the geopolitical uncertainty months. This is the mechanism behind today's broad-based +2-5% gains across every sector.