(Yicai) July 2 -- Technology shares propelled trading activity on China’s mainland stock markets in the first half of the year, with turnover nearly doubling from a year earlier.

CNY317.5 trillion (USD46.78 trillion) of mainland-listed shares changed hands in the six months ended June 30, a 96 percent year-on-year increase to equal about 70 percent of last year’s turnover, Yicai calculated.

Of the 20 most actively traded stocks, only one -- Zijin Mining Group -- was from outside the tech sector. The other 19 were linked to computing power, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and new energy themes. Sixteen spanned the AI computing ecosystem, including optical modules, memory chips, AI chips, printed circuit boards, and servers.

Those 19 stocks had transaction volumes of more than CNY1 trillion (USD147.4 billion) each, for a total of CNY28.14 trillion (USD4.14 trillion), up 367 percent from the same period last year.

Zhongji Innolight topped the list at CNY2.83 trillion, nearly four times that of liquor giant Kweichow Moutai and 10 times that of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Eoptolink Technology was the other stock with turnover of more than CNY2 trillion.

The top three stocks, which included TFC Optical Communication, accounted for over 2 percent of the market’s entire turnover, a rare phenomenon.

The surge in activity was driven by soaring stock prices. Fourth-ranked GigaDevice Semiconductor skyrocketed by 281 percent, the most among all equities with a transaction volume of over CNY1 trillion. Zhongji Innolight, the world's largest maker of high-speed optical transceiver modules, more than doubled in value.

In the first six months of 2026, the ChiNext Index soared 36 percent to 4,342.71, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Component Index jumped 20 percent to 16,205.56, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index rose 3.2 percent to 4,094.40.

“We’ve fewer and fewer internal meetings to discuss consumption and real estate, as most of our time is spent on studying optical modules, AI chips, and memory,” a private equity fund manager based in Shanghai told Yicai, explaining that such a change has been particularly evident in the past year.

“It’s not because these companies are bad, but because the market no longer focuses on them,” the person noted. “Funds are profit-driven and go wherever there is money to be made.”

Editor: Futura Costaglione