Chinese tech firms take the hardest hit as the global AI trade cools

The global AI trade is losing steam, and nobody is feeling it quite like China. The Star 50 index, Shanghai’s flagship gauge for tech and innovation stocks, has dropped nearly 40% in 2026. That makes it the worst-performing major tech index anywhere in the world, according to Bloomberg data. The pain isn’t evenly spread, though. Chinese companies selling into overseas markets are doing just fine. The ones relying on the home market are getting hammered. A tale of two China tech trades Start with the losers. MetaX, one of China’s homegrown chip designers, has lost around 50% of its value this year. Moore Threads, another domestic chipmaker positioned as a local alternative to foreign AI hardware, has seen a ~25% drop in shares in 2026. The damage extends well beyond chips. SenseTime, a long-standing name in Chinese computer vision and AI models, is down 40% this year. Kuaishou, the short-video platform that has been pushing into AI tools, has fallen 51%. The hardware-focused ChiNext index, Shenzhen’s growth board, has dropped 36% during the sell-off. Now flip the coin. A Bloomberg gauge tracking 30 Chinese tech stocks with heavy overseas revenue exposure has climbed 36% in 2026. Dom...