An aerial view of Lujiazui, Shanghai File photo: VCG

In a recent episode of America's Got Talent, 26-year-old dancer Wu Yufei from Southwest China's Sichuan Province took the stage with eight humanoid robots. Their flawless, high-energy synchronized routine stunned judges, the live audience, and viewers worldwide.

As clips of the performance spread across the internet, the spectacle also spotlighted China's accelerating technological prowess - a powerful blend of advanced robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and precision engineering - capabilities now drawing intense interest from global investors.

China's deepening expertise in these technologies has fueled growing optimism among international financial institutions. Many are turning bullish on Chinese assets, channeling fresh capital into the country's equity markets amid strong innovation and tech momentum. 

Growing optimism

Global investors' interest in Chinese assets will continue to support the strong performance of these assets, including Hong Kong and Chinese mainland equities in the second half of this year, Chen Ge, co-head of the global investment banking department at UBS Securities, said during a group interview in Beijing on Thursday.

According to UBS Securities' research, active global funds' allocations to Chinese equities have rebounded noticeably since the fourth quarter of 2024, rising from a trough of about 5 percent of portfolios to approximately 7 percent recently - though still well below the peak of 15 percent seen in 2021, Chen noted.

As of the end of May, offshore investors held more than 4 trillion yuan ($591.22 billion) worth of A-share free-float market capitalization. In the first quarter, total Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) holdings reached 13.86 billion shares, up 27.02 percent quarter-on-quarter, the Securities Daily reported last week. 

Underpinning rising foreign allocations is also a structural shift within China's capital markets. According to Shanghai-based financial data provider Wind Information, as of June 9, the number of A-share companies with a market capitalization above 100 billion yuan ($14.77 billion) reached 204 - up 48.9 percent from 137 at the end of 2024. 

Notably, these newly added mega-cap firms are concentrated in high-tech sectors such as semiconductors, the new energy supply chain, communications equipment, and aerospace, according to data from Wind Information. 

This is also reflected in reports of some overseas financial institutions. 

"We are starting to see better value in Chinese hardware firms, which have risen as a dominant force in the physical AI trade. Innovation is thriving, supported by rising R&D investment and China's vast pool of talent," Matthew Quaife, Fidelity International's global multi-asset head, said in a report published on Wednesday.

Chinese giants, such as industrial robot makers and semiconductor manufacturers, have increasingly gained local market share from foreign rivals, helped by the government's push for self-reliance in technology and supply chains, Quaife noted. "China is also a major part of the global basket that we invest in to capture the energy transition theme across the world," Quaife said.

Source of certainty

Beyond strong industrial fundamentals, China's steady financial opening and improving market environment continue to stand out to global investors amid widespread geo-economic turbulence, analysts said.

"Chinese equities offer a distinct source of certainty," ICBC International analysts including chief economist Cheng Shi said in a note sent to the Global Times on Monday.

In addition to China's rapid technological development, the deeper appeal of Chinese equities lies in the standalone certainty premium derived from the country's policy continuity and industrial depth. The predictability of the policy framework, the comprehensiveness of the industrial system, and its low correlation with major global sources of uncertainty collectively form an irreplaceable anchor for the real economy, the note said.

China's opening-up in the financial sector has been making continuous progress. On June 5, the China Securities Regulatory Commission released its latest list of QFII and Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII), showing that seven institutions were granted QFII/RQFII status in May, the Securities Daily reported.

Other policy supports have also boosted the appeal of Chinese assets, analysts noted. 

"China's capital markets have prioritized funding for growth-oriented future industries and emerging sectors, underscoring how capital markets bolster the real economy. Meanwhile, policy support for advanced manufacturing, frontier AI, and embodied robotics - especially in aspects such as aggregate fundraising, the number of listings, and the diversity of listed companies - has effectively laid a solid groundwork for further financial empowerment of the real economy and greater inclusivity in capital markets," Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times on Monday.

Recently, Unitree Robotics, the maker of the humanoid robots danced on the America's Got Talent stage, won approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange's listing committee for its planned STAR Market initial public offering (IPO). The move marked one of the fastest IPO reviews in China this year as investors pile into the country's fast-growing robotics sector.

With leading technology firms accelerating their IPO filings, China's capital markets are poised for a mini-wave of hard-tech listings, which will markedly enhance the quality of listed assets, prompting international long-term capital to reassess China's innovation value, Yang said.

"The continuous inflow of foreign capital underscores that amid geopolitical tension and trade frictions, China's industrial resilience, energy cost advantages, and breakthroughs driven by new quality productive forces have elevated it from being an 'option' to a 'necessity' in global asset allocations," Tian Lihui, dean of the Institute of Financial Development at Nankai University, told the Global Times.

As foreign capital deepens its integration into China's tech ecosystem, the investment logic is shifting from pure growth exposure to a dual engine of "safety premiums plus technological dividends," Tian said. "Global capital now views China as a critical hedge against geopolitical risk and a vital anchor for capturing the tech revolution."

The trend is also shown in real actions on the ground. In recent days, overseas financial institutions are conducting intensive visits into Chinese tech companies. Different from previous cursory walkthroughs, these institutions carry out more deep-dive analyses, according to relevant firms.

"Since the start of the year, we've hosted an average of three to four investor research meetings per day, nearly half of them with overseas investors," UBTECH Robotics told the Global Times on Monday. "Their goal is clear: to gain in-depth insights into industry trends and identify viable investment targets."

With this momentum, Chinese tech no longer needs to travel overseas for global attention, as the humanoid robots did on America's Got Talent. Instead, the world — and global investors — are coming to China.