On July 17th, the Hong Kong stock market suffered a heavy blow with AI and chip stocks leading the decline. The Hang Seng Tech Index plummeted by 4.37%, marking the largest single-day drop since April 2025, while the Hang Seng Index fell by 1.78%, breaching the 25000-point mark. Semiconductor giant SMIC tumbled by nearly 10%, leading the decline among Hang Seng Index constituents.
According to reports from mainland Chinese media, the Hang Seng Index closed at 24562.24 points on that day, down by 446.36 points; the Hang Seng Tech Index closed at 4623.17 points, down by 211.27 points; and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HKCEI) dropped by 2.18%.
Just the previous trading day, the Hang Seng Index had climbed back above 25000 points, only to fall below this level again on the 17th. The Hang Seng Tech Index saw a drop of over 5% at one point in the afternoon, ending the day with a significant decline of 4.37%.
The day’s downturn initially focused on the semiconductor sector. SMIC fell by 9.97%, while Huahong, Unisoc, Tianzhu Intelligent, and Fiberhome Telecommunication all dropped by over 10%; Wingtech fell by nearly 10%, and Langji Technology plunged by over 8%.
AI-related stocks experienced even more severe declines. Zhipu plummeted by 28.49%, MiniMax by 15.63%, and stocks in the robotics sector also trended downward.
Large internet platforms saw collective declines. Kuaishou dropped by 7.89%, Tencent by 4.63%, Meituan by 4.07%, Alibaba by 3.68%; Baidu, NetEase, and Bilibili all experienced declines as well.
The selling pressure then spread to the new energy vehicles and pharmaceutical sectors. Xiaopeng Motors fell by 8.93%, NIO by 6.87%; the Hang Seng Biotech Index plunged by 6.33%, with many innovative pharmaceutical stocks seeing significant drops. While there were gains in the power and some banking stocks, they were not sufficient to reverse the market’s overall decline.
Due to the simultaneous downturn of many leading tech giants, Hang Seng Index was significantly dragged down. According to post-market data from investment information platform “Glory Hong”, Tencent’s 4.63% decline contributed nearly 100 points to the fall of the Hang Seng Index; Alibaba’s 3.68% decrease dragged the index by almost 70 points. SMIC, Kuaishou, and jewelry brand Chow Tai Fook were also among the top decliners in the Hang Seng Index constituents.
Reuters reported on July 17th that global semiconductor and AI-related stocks have been continuously declining recently, prompting investors to reassess whether the stock market rally driven by the artificial intelligence boom can be sustained.
Analysts believe that the previous excessive gains in some AI stocks, coupled with profit-taking and closing of leveraged positions, have further intensified the decline. At the same time, companies investing large sums of money in the field of artificial intelligence are facing increasing market scrutiny over whether these investments will generate corresponding returns.