Traders shift focus to Chinese equity derivatives for AI exposure as Korean and Japanese plays get crowded

The hottest AI trade in Asia is no longer in Seoul or Tokyo. Investors who spent the last two years piling into South Korean memory chip stocks and Japanese semiconductor plays are rotating into Chinese equity derivatives, chasing what they see as better valuations in Beijing’s rapidly expanding tech ecosystem.

The shift is particularly visible in offshore perpetual futures markets, where platforms like Hyperliquid and tradeXYZ have become unexpected conduits for global capital seeking exposure to Chinese AI infrastructure, chipmaking, and robotics companies.

The numbers behind the rotation

Perpetual futures tied to Unitree Robotics surpassed $105 million in trade volume within a 24-hour window following the company’s IPO. CXMT, a Chinese memory chipmaker, saw offshore perpetual futures register roughly $66 million in open interest shortly after its July 2026 listing. Even before that IPO, CXMT perps were doing approximately $19 million in daily volume.

Value Partners, one of Asia’s leading fund managers, sold positions in Taiwanese and South Korean AI stocks starting in August 2025 to redeploy capital into cheaper Chinese firms. Early 2026 saw Korean retail investors alone pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Chinese semiconductor and AI stocks.

China’s Star 50 index, which tracks innovation-focused companies on the Shanghai Star Market, posted roughly 29% year-to-date returns through mid-August 2026, comfortably outpacing the broader CSI 300.

Why China, why now

After years of aggressive bidding, AI-adjacent stocks in South Korea and Japan have gotten expensive. SK Hynix and TSMC remain dominant in the global semiconductor supply chain, but their valuations now reflect that dominance.

Chinese hyperscalers and chipmakers face lower capital expenditure requirements compared to their US and Korean counterparts, which means potentially faster paths to profitability for newly public companies. Beijing’s industrial policy has been explicitly oriented toward tech self-sufficiency, with billions flowing into domestic chipmaking, AI model development, and robotics.

The regulatory picture is complicated. Chinese authorities have periodically cracked down on speculative trading activity, and the use of offshore derivatives to circumvent capital controls sits in a legal gray zone that could tighten at any time.

Perpetual futures as the access layer

Perpetual futures don’t expire, they offer leverage, and they trade 24/7 on platforms that don’t require brokerage accounts with Chinese market access. For foreign investors who can’t easily buy shares on the Shanghai or Shenzhen exchanges, these synthetic instruments provide a workaround that is both liquid and fast.

Hyperliquid, which built its reputation as a decentralized perpetual futures exchange for crypto assets, has emerged as one of the venues facilitating this activity. The platform’s ability to list new markets quickly, sometimes within days of an IPO announcement, gives it a structural advantage over traditional exchanges that require lengthy listing processes.

For investors considering this space, the risks are real and layered. Regulatory intervention from either Chinese authorities or the jurisdictions hosting these platforms could disrupt access overnight. Liquidity in individual perpetual contracts can evaporate quickly during market stress, and the leverage that makes these instruments attractive also amplifies losses. The 29% year-to-date gain in the Star 50 index also means some of the easy money may already be gone.

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