Wu Qing, chairman of China Securities Regulatory Fee (CSRC), speaks on the Lujiazui Discussion board in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
China will crack down on expertise themes designed to spice up inventory costs, the highest securities regulator mentioned, signaling Beijing’s rising unease with hypothesis on the bogus intelligence-linked inventory rally.
Regulators will “strictly investigate and punish” illicit actions together with using sizzling expertise themes to hype inventory ideas, in addition to market manipulation and insider buying and selling, Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Fee, mentioned on the annual Lujiazui Discussion board in Shanghai on Wednesday.
The remarks come as Beijing has intensified scrutiny of capital markets this yr, together with a regulatory crackdown on cross-border stock trading by mainland traders, and replicate rising concern that the AI rally sweeping Chinese language equities has created openings for market abuse.
State media reported earlier this month that some executives and main shareholders at A-share chipmakers — these traded on the mainland — have rushed to promote holdings this yr to money in on the AI rally. China’s CSI synthetic intelligence index, which tracks corporations within the AI provide chain, has soared practically 30% this yr, in contrast with the 6% year-to-date achieve within the broad-based CSI 300 index.
The CSRC will even difficulty steerage on the usage of AI in capital markets notably focusing on unlawful use of instruments to generate inventory suggestions, Wu mentioned,, in addition to the unfold of rumors and illicit buying and selling enabled by the expertise.
Using AI instruments in buying and selling has remained a regulatory blind spot, in response to Tianchen Xu, senior economist on the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“Beijing is more and more involved about AI-related monetary dangers — from deepfake movies utilizing public figures to advertise shares, to listed corporations exaggerating their ‘AI story’ to inflate valuations,” mentioned George Chen, associate and chair of the digital observe at The Asia Group. “Regulators view these traits as early indicators of a possible market bubble.”
Corporations with little real connection to AI or superior expertise have additionally sought to connect themselves to the theme to elevate their share costs, Xu mentioned — a sample, he famous, that has performed out in earlier market cycles round sectors like industrial spaceflight and the low-altitude financial system.
Beijing’s coverage stance contrasts with the passion for AI shares on Wall Avenue, taking a extra cautious strategy and actively working to chill speculative sentiment, Chen mentioned.
AI-related dangers to monetary markets are additionally prone to characteristic in the U.S.-China AI dialogue, which the 2 nations agreed to determine following President Donald Trump’s assembly with President Xi Jinping in Beijing final month, Chen mentioned.