Chinese A-shares continued their strong rally on Friday, with a total trading turnover reaching 2 trillion yuan, marking a new high in over a month.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.01% to close at 3,303.67, the Shenzhen Component Index climbed 1.75% to 10,576.00, and the tech-heavy Chinext Price Index jumped 2.53% to 2,174.35.
The surge was driven by the ongoing market enthusiasm surrounding DeepSeek, boosting sectors like computer hardware, software, and internet.
A report from Deutsche Bank highlighted that China’s technological achievements have been underestimated by investors, calling the launch of DeepSeek China’s “Sputnik Moment.”
Technology sectors posted strong gains, with engineering machinery, automotive, diversified finance, computer hardware, software, healthcare, and internet sectors rallying.
The excitement around DeepSeek continued to build. Reports indicate that China’s Generative AI (GenAI) software market is projected to grow over fourfold in five years, from $1.8 billion in 2024 to $9.8 billion by 2029, excluding key AI-related infrastructure, such as AI training chips, inference servers, AI data center construction, and GenAI development platforms, according to Omdia.
Recently, Huawei Cloud announced that it has launched the DeepSeekR1/V3 inference service in collaboration with Silicon-Based Mobility.
CITIC Securities noted that enterprise management software is actively embracing AI-driven growth engines. AI agents, which enable autonomous planning, perception, and decision-making for complex tasks, are transforming enterprise AI platforms.
Salesforce’s new Agentforce platform is seen as a paradigm shift in AI-driven enterprise management software, with 2025 expected to be the breakout year for AI agents, driving further growth in productivity tools and industry-specific software, it said.
Deutsche Bank emphasized that 2025 will be the year global investors recognize China’s technological advancements. It stated that the bull market in Hong Kong and A-shares began last year and is expected to surpass previous highs in the medium term.
The report also underscored the strong intellectual property protection in China, noting that for investors seeking companies with strong moats, Chinese firms offer deep and wide competitive advantages—potentially even more so than their Western counterparts.