AI computing power demand remains strong, software ETF Zhaoshang increases by 1.03%

As of 10:35 on March 17, the Shanghai Composite Index increased by 0.34%, the Shenzhen Component Index rose by 0.22%, and the ChiNext Index gained 0.13%. The sectors leading the gains include insurance, internet insurance, and securities.

In terms of ETFs, Software ETF China Merchants (159899) rose by 1.03%, with constituent stocks Dongfang Guoxin (300166.SZ) and Tonghuashun (300033.SZ) up over 5%. Other stocks such as Guidance (300803.SZ), Wealth Trends (688318.SH), Langxin Technology (300682.SZ), Dazhihui, Sifangtu Xin (002405.SZ), Hengsheng Electronics (600570.SH), Airong Software (920799.BJ), and Hehe Information (688615.SH) also increased.

On the news front, AI cloud company Nebius announced a new long-term AI infrastructure supply agreement with tech giant Meta, with a total contract value of up to $27 billion. The agreement involves exclusive computing capacity based on Nvidia’s latest Vera Rubin platform, reflecting ongoing large-scale investments by global tech giants in AI computing infrastructure and reinforcing market expectations for sustained high demand in AI computing power.

Shanxi Securities stated that the computer sector saw significant gains in 2025, and in 2026, the investment opportunities in the AI industry chain are expected to be fully optimistic. The performance of the computer sector in 2025 was heavily influenced by AI industry trends: early in the year, the release of DeepSeekR1 sparked thematic market movements; from late June to August, increased risk appetite drove a rebound in AI industry investments, leading to widespread gains in AI applications and computing power sectors; since late August, the sector’s performance on the application side has been weaker than on the computing power side due to underwhelming earnings realization. Overall, the computer sector’s revenue continued to accelerate, and net profits improved significantly, with expected performance improvements gradually offsetting high valuations. Currently, fund holdings in the sector are at their lowest in nearly 10 years, and a gradual recovery is expected under the catalyst of a booming industry. Looking ahead to 2026, we remain confident in investment opportunities in the AI industry chain, expecting a breakout in AI applications, with a focus on sectors such as trusted innovation, autonomous driving, and quantum computing.

China Post Securities noted that the explosive growth of OpenClaw is triggering an exponential increase in AI infrastructure demand. The fundamental reason is a fundamental shift in token consumption patterns—from “human-machine dialogue” to “machine self-looping.” OpenClaw continuously self-corrects, causing context length to expand rapidly, and token consumption to grow quickly. According to MiniMax, the average daily token consumption of its M2 series text models in February 2026 has increased more than sixfold compared to December 2025. User feedback indicates that a well-configured OpenClaw running 24 hours a day could consume hundreds of millions of tokens per month. If task chains are extended, tool calls increase, or memory is enabled, token consumption could rise even faster.