Since July, sustained price increases in upstream sectors such as wafer foundry, silicon wafers, and packaging materials, combined with demand from AI data centers and other areas, have led to nearly 20 major domestic and international semiconductor companies issuing price adjustment letters.
Specifically, starting July 1, overseas manufacturers like Infineon, Texas Instruments, and STMicroelectronics, along with several leading domestic firms, have successively raised product prices. These adjustments cover power semiconductors, analog chips, memory, wafer foundry, and advanced packaging, with some companies marking their second price hike this year. This trend may signal a clearer recovery in the industry chain's momentum.
At the same time, as global wafer fabs continue to expand capacity and AI computing hardware construction accelerates, chip-level capacity constraints are gradually moving upstream. This makes semiconductor equipment a critical bottleneck in the current industry chain. According to reports from media outlets like Korea's ETNEWS, the five major global core semiconductor equipment manufacturers—ASML, Applied Materials, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, and KLA—are now experiencing significantly extended delivery times for key equipment, with overall delivery periods increasing by 50% to 100% compared to normal cycles.
Industry-level catalysts are also frequent. On July 25, SK Group and NVIDIA finalized a cooperation agreement to conduct comprehensive collaboration around AI computing infrastructure and deepen their long-term partnership with SK Hynix in the AI memory sector. This reflects that global computing demand remains on an upward trajectory. Today, China's domestic memory leader officially debuted on the STAR Market, setting a new fundraising record for the board's IPOs. As the only DRAM manufacturer in China and the fourth-largest globally, its listing will support technological upgrades and capacity expansion, potentially accelerating the introduction of local semiconductor equipment and supporting materials into the supply chain.
Amid these multiple positive factors, the semiconductor equipment sector continues its strong performance, with related popular products attracting ongoing market attention. Among them, the Huatai-PineBridge STAR Semiconductor Equipment ETF (588710) has shown active trading, with daily trading volume exceeding 1 billion yuan for 20 consecutive trading days since late June. The average daily trading volume during this period reached 1.867 billion yuan, a significant increase from the 540 million yuan average since the start of the year. In terms of capital flows, the product has seen net inflows of 7.038 billion yuan over the past month, pushing its latest scale and share count to record highs since inception—reaching 8.766 billion yuan and 2.804 billion shares, respectively, with year-to-date growth of 889% and 392%.
The Huatai-PineBridge STAR Semiconductor Equipment ETF (588710) and its linked funds (Class A 024974 / Class C 024975) are expected to benefit from the dual catalysts of the AI hardware wave and domestic substitution. The underlying index, the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Theme Index, allocates 87% of its weight to the "semiconductor equipment + semiconductor materials" industry. Additionally, unlike other semiconductor theme indices that select stocks from both the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets, the STAR Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Index's exclusive focus on the STAR Market's 100% stock selection may give it greater elasticity. Over the past year, the STAR Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Index has accumulated a gain of 187%, outperforming the CSI Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Theme Index's 176% return during the same period.
The semiconductor equipment and materials sector has a high density of industry catalysts, but investors should be mindful of the risks associated with high valuations and trading volatility. The semiconductor equipment sector's valuation is already at historical highs, and trading structures are relatively crowded. Profit-taking and a decline in market sentiment could trigger significant fluctuations. Investors are advised to assess their own risk tolerance, make rational judgments, and invest cautiously.