[South Korean Retail Investors Net Purchase Over $2.8 Billion in Chinese AI Assets in H1, North Huachuang and Cambricon Become Top Picks] BlockBeats News, July 4 – According to data from the Korea Securities Depository's securities information portal, South Korean investors cumulatively net purchased approximately $2.819 billion in Chinese assets through individual stocks and ETFs in the first half of 2026. Among these, A-share purchases amounted to about $678 million, a year-on-year surge of 130.55%. Semiconductor equipment company North Huachuang topped the A-share purchase list with approximately $33.94 million, followed by AI chip leader Cambricon with $27.28 million, and CATL ranked third. South Korean individual investors are focusing on buying stocks considered the "Chinese version of NVIDIA," driven by core logic such as improved profitability and rising expectations for China's independent R&D capabilities in AI semiconductors. In the Hong Kong stock market, SMIC became the most favored Chinese asset among South Korean investors with $85.46 million in purchases. AI company MiniMax, which went public in January, ranked second with about $66.65 million in purchases, followed by Alibaba in third place. ETFs have become an important allocation channel, with 10 Chinese asset ETFs collectively netting approximately $209 million in the first half of the year. Among them, the Global X China Semiconductor ETF ranked first with about $60.83 million in net purchases. Standard Chartered analysts stated bluntly that the attitude of foreign capital toward Chinese assets "has undergone a fundamental shift," moving from a geopolitical discount perspective to a value reassessment logic centered on the AI industry. [Original Link]