A-shares Market Capitalization Map Changes: "Innovation Content" Reflects the Rise of China's Emerging Industries

On April 1, the A-share STAR Market and Science & Technology Innovation composite index rose by more than 3%, delivering standout performance. This trend is not an isolated one-day move, but a snapshot of the sustained strength of the technology sector in recent years.

Driven by technology stocks, the ranks of A-share large-cap companies have continued to grow. As of April 1, there were 184 companies with market caps exceeding 1 trillion yuan, up 5 from the beginning of the year; among them, there are 12 companies with market caps exceeding 10 trillion yuan. A decade ago, the number of companies with market caps exceeding 1 trillion yuan and 10 trillion yuan was only 51 and 4, respectively.

Once, the “10-trillion-yuan market cap club,” led by finance and energy, is now being acceleratedly reshaped by emerging industries represented by hard technology. A notable milestone came on August 22, 2025: the total market cap of the electronics industry reached 11.38 trillion yuan, for the first time surpassing the banking industry, which had long held the top spot, and rising to become the number one industry in A-shares. This is not only a moment of brilliance for an industry, but also a validation from the capital market of China’s economic shift from factor-driven growth to innovation-driven growth.

Looking at the history of global stock markets, changes in a country’s market-cap landscape are a mirror image of the evolution of its economic structure. The U.S. stock market took decades to complete the transition from the industrial era to the digital era; over just 10 years, A-shares rapidly moved from “finance + oil” dominance to being led by “hard technology + the intelligent economy.”

“The stock market is the barometer of the economy. But more accurately, it is the barometer of the quality of economic growth.” Li Xunlei, Chief Economist at Zhongtai Securities, divided China’s economy over the past 30 years into three decades of “10-year periods,” saying, “During that time, we witnessed the conversion and replacement of China’s old and new growth drivers, and also saw the rise of emerging industries.”

Reshaping: From “finance dominating the charts” to “technology shining”

Over the past decade, the A-share market-cap landscape has undergone profound restructuring: emerging industries have surged strongly, while the share of traditional sectors has fallen amid the wave of industrial transformation.

As a landmark turning point, in August 2025 the total market cap of the electronics industry first exceeded that of the banking industry, and since then has continued to climb. As of the time of this reporter’s release, the total market cap of the electronics industry reached 14.16 trillion yuan, about 7 times higher than 10 years ago.

Among them, three “new forces”—CATL, China Mobile, and Hon Hai Precision Industry—have entered the “10-trillion-yuan market cap club,” reflecting the core logic behind the explosive growth of technology tracks in today’s capital market.

Represented by Hon Hai Precision Industry, amid the global surge in AI compute power demand, the company has become the core “shovel-seller.” As NVIDIA’s core supplier and a global leader in AI servers, the company’s attributable net profit in 2025 reached 352.86 billion yuan, up 51.98% year over year. Of this, revenue from AI servers for cloud service providers grew by more than 3 times year over year, and revenue from high-speed switches above 800G surged 13 times.

A CICC research report states that the explosive growth driven by large-model iterations and generative AI application scenarios is leading to an exponential increase in demand for compute power. With its world-leading position in the AI server field, Hon Hai Precision Industry is expected to fully benefit.

The communications sector has also risen notably, with total market cap at 5.82 trillion yuan and its ranking moving from 23rd to 8th. China Mobile, relying on 5G buildout and digital services, has become an infrastructure provider in the digital economy era; behind its stable presence in the trillion-yuan market cap cohort is the value reshaping of the digital economy for the traditional communications industry.

CATL, meanwhile, has ridden the global wave of the new-energy transition, bringing its market cap into the “10-trillion-yuan market cap club.”

This “technology topping the charts” is not a coincidence; it closely aligns with global trends. In 2006, among the top 20 companies by market cap in the U.S. S&P 500, Exxon Mobil held the top spot with roughly 37 billion USD in market cap, while financial institutions such as Citigroup, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase occupied important positions. Consumer leaders such as Procter & Gamble and Walmart were also included. At that time, Apple ranked only 45th.

By 2026, NVIDIA, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have firmly secured the top five by market cap. The rankings of the top three from 20 years ago were 200th, 45th, and 22nd, respectively. The information technology sector’s weight in the S&P 500 rose from less than 15% to above 30%, becoming a core engine behind the rise of U.S. stocks.

A-shares is similar. Hon Hai Precision Industry leads the electronics sector by market cap at the trillion-yuan level, followed by Hygon Information and SMIC; meanwhile, trillion-yuan companies such as Cambricon and North China Huachuang continue to make breakthroughs in areas including chips, equipment, and algorithms, building a globally competitive technology industrial chain.

In contrast, in traditional industries, the total market cap of real estate shrank from 2.53 trillion yuan 10 years ago to 1.09 trillion yuan—already effectively “cut in half”—and its ranking fell from 4th to 23rd. Total market caps in sectors such as oil refining and petrochemicals, and basic chemical industry, have seen growth stagnate and their weights continue to decline.

Luo Zhiheng, Chief Economist at Yuekai Securities, believes that the electronics sector surpassing the banking sector to become the largest market-cap sector in A-shares is not an isolated phenomenon. Rather, it reflects in a concentrated way that the share of high-tech manufacturing in areas such as production, investment, exports, and financing has been steadily rising, indicating an acceleration in the transition of old and new growth drivers.

In the past, banks relied on interest-rate spreads, and real estate relied on land value appreciation; the core assets were policy dividends and resource endowments. Now, the core assets of technology leaders are patents, talent, and ecosystems. This shift determines the long-term stability of the current market-cap structure.

Breaking through: From “exporting products” to “taking root overseas”

Breaking down the rise path of A-share “new forces,” going overseas is a clear main thread.

In recent years, A-share listed companies’ pace of going overseas has accelerated significantly. Not only has it expanded the scale of overseas operations, it has also achieved the leap from “exporting products” to “taking root overseas.”

According to statistics by a reporter at Shanghai Securities News, in 2024 the number of A-share listed companies with overseas operations surpassed 3,700, accounting for 68%; both figures hit historical highs. This means that more than two-thirds of A-share companies have integrated into the global market, and overseas operations have become an important engine driving earnings growth.

From the perspective of revenue scale: in 2024, overseas business revenue of A-share companies exceeded 10 trillion yuan, more than doubling compared with 10 years earlier. The proportion of overseas business revenue in total revenue reached 15%, up 5 percentage points from 10 years earlier, also setting a historical high.

More importantly, the profitability of overseas operations has improved by a leapfrog margin. In 2024, the gross profit from overseas business of A-share companies reached 1.65 trillion yuan, up 7 times compared with 10 years earlier, with growth far outpacing the growth rate of revenue. The gross profit from overseas business accounted for 15% of total gross profit, up 10 percentage points from 10 years earlier.

From the perspective of industry structure, the change in the main force behind going overseas is a direct reflection of China’s industrial upgrading. In 2014, the industries that ranked in the top three by overseas business revenue weight in A-shares were oil refining and petrochemicals, building decoration, and transportation. By 2024, the electronics industry’s overseas revenue was 1.72 trillion yuan, accounting for 16% of A-shares weight, exceeding the oil refining and petrochemicals sector and rising to first place. In addition, the automotive industry’s ranking rose from 8th to 3rd, and sectors such as power equipment and non-ferrous metals also saw significant increases.

By contrast, for traditional industries such as oil refining and petrochemicals, building decoration, and steel, the weight of overseas revenue has fallen noticeably. Taking the oil refining and petrochemicals sector as an example, its overseas revenue weight in A-shares dropped from 27% in 2014 to 12% in 2024, a decline of 15 percentage points over the decade.

Among overseas-expanding companies, a number of industry leaders have achieved sustained growth in their overseas operations.

Companies such as BYD, Midea Group, Zijin Mining, Mindray Medical, Haier Smart Home, Luxshare Precision, and Inovance have become benchmarks for global expansion. These companies have not only achieved global coverage of their products, but also deeply integrated into global value chains through overseas factory establishment, localized R&D, and brand building, realizing the transformation from “going out” to “getting rooted.”

Bao Chengchao, Deputy General Manager of the Research Institute of Guolian Minsheng Securities, said that the increase in the share of overseas business—especially the fact that the share of gross profit exceeds the share of revenue—shows that Chinese companies’ overseas expansion has moved beyond the simple stage of “selling products” to a higher stage of “building brands,” “laying networks,” and “deeply taking root,” which is an important sign of improving global competitiveness of China’s economy and companies.

Lifting: A two-way convergence of institutional dividends and an industrial blueprint

Behind the changes in the A-share market-cap landscape are coordinated guidance stemming from reform of the capital market system and the alignment of industrial policy.

In terms of capital market reforms: in 2019, the STAR Market was established and a registration-based system was piloted; in 2020, reforms to the ChiNext board were carried out and a registration-based system was piloted; in 2023, a comprehensive registration-based system was formally implemented. A series of institutional innovations broke the rigid requirements of traditional IPO reviews regarding profitability metrics, greatly enhancing the capital market’s inclusiveness toward technology innovation companies.

Data show that between 2020 and 2025, about 60% of A-share IPO financing flowed into strategic emerging industries such as information technology, advanced equipment, and biopharmaceuticals, precisely matching the capital market’s resource allocation function with the real-economy transformation needs.

The release of these institutional dividends has promoted the cluster-style listing and growth of hard-technology enterprises.

Since the STAR Market was established in 2019, hard-technology companies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and new energy have accelerated their entry into the capital market. After receiving funding support, they have continued to increase R&D investment, achieving a virtuous cycle of technological breakthroughs and market-cap growth. By the end of 2025, the A-share “1-trillion-yuan market cap club” had 165 members, including more than 70 companies from strategic emerging industries, accounting for over 40%, while in 2016 this figure was fewer than 10.

The rise of hard-technology companies in the capital market has not only changed the structure of the market-cap landscape, but also reshaped the logic of market value pricing.

“At the same time, our industrial policies are still very forward-looking. Since the internet started about 2000 years ago, we have seized almost all of the opportunities for the rise of major global emerging industries—this is an extremely rare advantage.” Li Xunlei said.

Outlook: A new productive force leading China’s economic transformation

Amid the wave of structural transformation in China’s economy, the A-share market-cap landscape is becoming a “barometer” for industrial upgrading.

As resource consumption, low-cost labor, and real-estate-driven traditional models lose steam, high-end manufacturing such as electronics, communications, and new energy is accelerating its rise and becoming the core carrier of new productive forces.

Recently, Kang Yi, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that in 2025 China’s national economic performance advanced under pressure, moving toward new directions and better outcomes, and that high-quality development achieved new results; the main goals and tasks for economic and social development were successfully completed, marking a successful conclusion to the “14th Five-Year Plan.”

Data show that in 2025, the added value of above-scale equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing grew by 9.2% and 9.4% respectively year over year; the output of new-energy vehicles exceeded 16 million units, remaining the world’s No. 1 for 11 consecutive years; green products such as wind power generator sets and bio-based chemical fibers grew rapidly, and the “green content” of industries continued to rise.

Digital product manufacturing also performed strongly, with added value up 9.3% year over year. Production of key products such as servers and industrial robots has expanded steadily, showing a deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy.

Kang Yi said that in 2025 China’s R&D expenditure intensity reached 2.8%, up 0.11 percentage points from the previous year, for the first time exceeding the average level of OECD countries. Data from the World Intellectual Property Organization show that China’s innovation index ranking entered the global top 10 for the first time. Good news continues to come from frontier fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and brain-computer interfaces, and a batch of major scientific research achievements are emerging in large numbers.

While affirming achievements, we must also see the real challenges that the technology industry faces.

For example: in some areas, core technologies are still constrained by others, and the “bottleneck” problems in segments such as high-end chips and basic software have not yet been fundamentally resolved; some enterprises still do not have clearly defined business/profit models, and there is still a time lag between R&D investment and commercial returns; the market’s pursuit of hard technology has also, in some localities, created valuation bubbles—how to balance growth expectations with investment rationality tests the wisdom of market participants. In addition, external uncertainties such as intensifying geopolitical games and the restructuring of the global technology supply chain also bring long-term challenges to industrial-chain security.

Industry insiders generally believe that, with the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, future industries such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and commercial spaceflight are expected to generate a new round of market-cap growth poles. A-shares’ “technology weight” will continue to increase, further converging toward the mature structure of U.S. stocks’ “technology + finance + energy.”

The significance of changes in the market-cap landscape goes far beyond the capital market itself. It reflects the evolution of China’s development philosophy: moving from pursuing scale and speed to staying committed to innovation and the future.

For market participants, understanding this value shift is not only about decisions on whether to invest and how to respond, but also about trying to read how the pulse of industries in the new era beats— and the remaking trajectory of core assets amid the wave of technological change.