China’s STAR 50 Index, the benchmark tracking the country’s most innovation-heavy public companies, has been putting up numbers that would make a meme coin blush. The index closed near 1,989 on June 24, with a monthly gain exceeding 13% and a three-month return of 57%.
One-year gains have exceeded 107% in certain trackers. For context, that kind of performance from a major national equity index is roughly the equivalent of watching a blue-chip stock market behave like a venture capital portfolio, except this one has the backing of the world’s second-largest economy.
What’s driving the surge
Beijing has been channeling policy support toward sectors including quantum computing, 6G, and robotics, creating a tailwind for the kinds of companies that populate the STAR Market. Think of the STAR board as China’s answer to Nasdaq, except with even more explicit state endorsement of the sectors it covers.
Top holdings in the index have been direct beneficiaries. Companies like Zhongji Innolight, Eoptolink Technology, and Sungrow Power Supply delivered average returns of around 33%, propelled largely by infrastructure buildouts tied to artificial intelligence.
