Analyst Billy Leung used a July 3, 2026 appearance on Bloomberg’s “The China Show” to argue that global investors are underweighting a wide slice of China’s artificial intelligence economy, and that a wave of fundraising and Hong Kong listings will provide the pricing benchmarks needed to close the gap. The segment, titled AI Boom Cements HK’s Role as Gateway to China, framed Hong Kong’s capital markets as the mechanism that could translate operational scale in Chinese AI into visible equity value.
China’s “Full Stack” AI Ecosystem Could Be Deeply Mispriced
Leung’s central claim: “One thing we also cannot overlook is that China has a full stack of AI names which we believe are being overlooked and underpriced as well.” By “full stack,” he means the entire AI value chain, from foundation models and chips to cloud infrastructure and application-layer companies serving consumers and enterprises.
The 2026 AI global trade has so far been dominated by U.S. semiconductor names as well as hyperscaler capex. Leung’s argument is that the Chinese equivalent- language models, data-center infrastructure, and vertical AI applications – has not attracted the proportional global capital that it deserves, in part because so much of the ecosystem sits inside private companies or Hong Kong-listed platforms that trade at valuations disconnected from their U.S. peers.
The view that Chinese stocks are underpriced lines up with the broader 2026 view from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which noted that valuations in Chinese equities look attractive relative to global market peers and that light global investor positioning leaves room for potential inflows. Morningstar’s 2026 outlook has similarly framed the region as a “quiet reset” opportunity for patient allocators.
Kling AI Is the Catalyst Leung Points To
Leung’s catalyst for the repricing is capital-markets activity itself. “It’s a function of the lack of capital markets. That’s why I am excited to see the overnight news about Kling raising money. We will also see potentially companies in China listing as well.”
Kling AI raised $2 billion in external funding, with a valuation capped at $3 billion. Kling is a two-year-old division of a parent company, Kuaishou Technology, valued at around $24 billion, and generated 650 million yuan in first-quarter revenue while pursuing a Hong Kong listing within a year. For public-market investors, the funding round provides a credible valuation benchmark that analysts can use to compare other Chinese AI companies, and a future Hong Kong listing would take those comparisons even further.
That is often how private industries become easier for public investors to value. A high-profile listing gives analysts a benchmark to model, encourages broader research coverage, and can pave the way for index inclusion and ETF flows. Leung believes Kling could be the first in a wave of Chinese AI listings, with Hong Kong emerging as the primary gateway for global investors to gain exposure to the sector.
New Benchmarks And ETFs Could Unlock Global Capital For Chinese AI
The final leg of Leung’s argument concerns product wrappers. “We are seeing more of them as a benchmark and global investors saying there might be underpricing in China. This is why Australia launched an ETF; we believe there’s a very strong growth in the market going forward for potentially decades.”
Vehicle launches matter because they compress the distance between a global allocator’s mandate and its exposure to Chinese AI. Once a benchmark exists, capital can flow. That mirrors the argument in the PineBridge 2026 Equity Outlook that active managers can find alpha as AI-driven earnings growth broadens beyond the megacaps.
What To Watch
If Leung’s thesis is correct, several developments could signal that China’s AI sector is beginning to reprice. The first is Kling AI’s planned Hong Kong IPO, which could establish a valuation benchmark for future Chinese AI listings. Another is whether Chinese tech companies with in-house AI businesses begin trading at higher valuations as more private AI companies enter public markets. Finally, growing inflows into China-tech and Asia-focused AI ETFs could indicate that global investors are starting to recognize the “overlooked and underpriced” opportunity Leung describes.
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