"Year of the Horse Tech Spring Festival Gala" reassures investors buying robots? Pre-holiday funds have already flowed into ETFs

China Securities Journal, February 19 (Reporter Wu Yuqi)
This year’s Year of the Horse CCTV Spring Festival Gala has been called the “Technology Spring Festival Gala” by many viewers. During the more than four-hour live broadcast, robots appeared almost from start to finish: humanoid robots demonstrating martial arts, robots participating in skit interactions, and robots performing as dance partners in singing and dancing programs, with mechanical limbs rhythmically rising and falling under the lights.

Compared to the slightly awkward, more showy walk-ons used in the past to showcase presence, this year’s robots have evolved from shaky supporting roles to being an integral part of stage storytelling.

Looking at the sponsorship list, the concentration of robots at this year’s Spring Festival Gala is also unusually high, featuring several humanoid robot companies, including Yushu Technology, Galaxy General, Magic Atom, and Songyan Power. During guest performances, the camera occasionally captures brand exposure, igniting the imagination of the capital market.

On social media, some joked, “What you know is watching the Spring Festival Gala; what you don’t know is watching a documentary about humanoid robot sector rotation.” Others half-seriously and jokingly speculated, “Did the Spring Festival Gala staff buy robot stocks?” and some investors sighed, “Investors who bought robot stocks before the holiday can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”

A public equity investment professional told reporters that before the holiday, he saw discussions not only about New Year’s Eve dinners and red envelope covers but also about various configurations of humanoid robots on social media. “Everyone is asking whether this wave is about program-driven sales or a long-term industry trend confirmation.”

Robot ETFs Attract Capital Before the Holiday

If the Spring Festival Gala stage brought robots into the spotlight, then the capital flows into ETFs before the holiday seem more like an early preview of this hot topic. Wind data shows that there are currently about 13 ETFs directly related to the robot theme in the entire market. In the last week before the Spring Festival (February 9-13), these products saw a total net inflow of about 2.577 billion yuan.

Specifically, the Huaxia CSI Robot ETF had a net inflow of 1.433 billion yuan in the week before the holiday, E Fund CSI Robot Industry ETF saw about 662 million yuan in net inflows, and Tianhong CSI Robot ETF and Invesco Great Wall CSI Robot Industry ETF each received over 1 billion yuan in net inflows.

Looking at the longer term since February, several billion-yuan-level robot ETFs also experienced net inflows. As of the last trading day before the holiday, the latest size of the Huaxia CSI Robot ETF was approximately 26.72 billion yuan, with a net inflow of 1.667 billion yuan since February. The E Fund CSI Robot Industry ETF’s latest size was 17.81 billion yuan, with net inflows of 1.122 billion yuan this month. Tianhong CSI Robot ETF had net inflows of 420 million yuan.

However, while robot ETFs attracted funds, broader artificial intelligence-related ETFs experienced net outflows during the same period, totaling about 600 million yuan. ETFs from fund companies like Fortis, Bosera, Huabao, and GF Securities all recorded net outflows exceeding 100 million yuan. In other words, within the same tech sector, capital appears to be shifting from general AI to more specific application areas.

A long-term technology manufacturing sector fund manager said he modestly increased his robot-related holdings before the holiday, not simply because “it’s going to be on the Spring Festival Gala,” but due to industry rhythm and relative valuation considerations.

“Since the beginning of this year, some AI infrastructure stocks have risen significantly, already pricing in some expectations in the short term. Meanwhile, some segments within the robot chain are accelerating in orders and technological progress, but their stock prices are still in a relative lag phase. The Gala just provided a very intuitive symbol, turning stories discussed in research reports into visual images,” he explained.

Pre-Holiday Focus on “Gala Robots” in Brokerage Reports

From a trading perspective, the week before the holiday was not generally a strong period in the market. Some investors chose to take profits and wait until after the holiday to reassess, so most broad-based index ETFs and some high-beta industry ETFs did not see significant capital inflows. Nonetheless, robot-themed ETFs still experienced net buying.

Insiders suggest that one reason is that the market had already warmed up to humanoid robots before the Gala. Several brokerages released in-depth reports on humanoid robots since January, and industry trend topics continued to ferment. Additionally, the overall sentiment in A-shares was still in recovery, making capital more sensitive to new stories, and robots happen to be riding on both technological breakthroughs and national policy support narratives.

Guoyuan Securities explicitly stated in its research report that “2026 is likely to become the year of humanoid robot applications.” The reappearance of robots on the Spring Festival Gala is not just a “pop culture” event but an external reflection of improved product design and application maturity. The real beneficiaries are those capable of mass production and continuous cost reduction along the industrial chain.

Southwest Securities also noted in its pre-holiday report that the main station’s Year of the Horse Gala is an “upgrade of ‘technology + art’,” integrating “tech manufacturing” into stage design and content creation, enriching people’s imagination of festive atmosphere. After the Snake Year Gala featured intelligent robots performing Yangge dance and became a “top trending” topic, robots will once again appear on the Gala stage, showcasing China’s technological progress with a combination of science and creative innovation.

Huajin Securities believes that as robots appear multiple times on the Gala, their exposure in the public eye will gradually increase, and commercialization will accelerate. Since many components of humanoid robots share technology with the automotive industry, attention should be paid to automakers with both hardware and AI development capabilities, such as Xpeng Motors, Xiaomi Group, Seres, and Changan Automobile, as well as companies capable of industrializing humanoid robot components.

Some cautious voices warn that the tech sector often faces overly high expectations during narrative peaks. If subsequent performance growth or industry progress falls short of expectations, stock prices could see sharper declines. A long-term TMT sector analyst said that some robot industry chain companies are already valued at relatively high levels historically. The emotional premium brought by the Gala, combined with short-term capital games after the holiday, could lead to increased volatility after initial gains. “For those with a long-term perspective, patience is needed to see industry data gradually materialize, rather than rushing in at the loudest moment.”