Open Source Securities: Rent Increase Wave Sweeps Across the Universal Market, Emphasizing Investment Opportunities in Tencent Cloud Price Increases.

Open Source Securities released a research report stating that, according to industry monitoring, the surge in AI computing power demand at the beginning of 2026 is driving the rental market into a price increase cycle. The popularization of AI applications and the OpenClaw framework may ignite the demand for reasoning, combined with limited production capacity of NVIDIA Corporation, increasing hardware costs, and domestic substitution gap, driving the market into a "seller's market". It is judged that the rental prices of computing power may increase or continue, and attention must be paid to investment opportunities in AI cloud IAAS. The development of OpenClaw may significantly increase the demand for AI cloud IAAS, and the price increase by Tencent Cloud has opened up long-term price increase space for AI cloud IAAS, benefiting AIDC, computing power rental, and CDN as core components of AI cloud IAAS. The main points of Open Source Securities are as follows: Internet giants are actively deploying domestic "little lobsters", and the reasoning end arms race is gradually intensifying After the launch of OpenClaw, domestic internet giants quickly began local adaptation and computing power support, with Tencent's lightweight cloud Lighthouse launching the OpenClaw one-click deployment template and visual panel, and Baidu Inc Sponsored ADR Class A's smart cloud launching an OpenClaw deployment solution based on lightweight application server configuration. As of March 9th, more than half of the pedestal models using OpenClaw are from large model startups in China. OpenClaw's popularity confirms the feasibility of AI landing, and internet giants have launched their own products modeled after OpenClaw: in late February, Alibaba officially open-sourced CoPaw, a personal intelligent agent workstation, reconstructing the product from the underlying architecture to the user experience; on March 6th, Xiaomi launched Xiaomi miclaw, an AI interaction testing product based on the MiMo large model, for small-scale testing; on March 9th, Tencent's full-scenario AI intelligent body WorkBuddy and the SaaS version assistant ArkClaw were officially launched; on March 10th, KNOWLEDGE ATLAS launched the locally deployable AutoClaw; on March 11th, Huawei launched the "Xiaoyi Claw" Beta version based on the Hongmeng system. With the drive of intelligent agents, the demand for reasoning computing power at the application end is entering a rapid growth stage. The domestic "little lobster" arms race may become a trend, driving continuous growth in AI cloud IAAS computing power. The wave of rental price increases is sweeping the entire market, with Tencent Cloud officially announcing price increases According to industry monitoring, the surge in AI computing power demand at the beginning of 2026 is driving the rental market into a price increase cycle. By the end of February, the monthly rental prices of high-end GPUs such as NVIDIA Corporation H200 and H100 had increased by 15%-30% month-on-month, with H200 reaching 7.5-8.0 yuan per card per hour, and monthly rentals of 6.0-6.6 thousand yuan, an increase of 25%-30%; H100 monthly rentals increased to 5.5-6.0 thousand yuan, an increase of 15%-20%. Delivery periods extended to 2027 Q2 (H200) and Q1 (H100). Top manufacturers, such as UCloud, Senhwa Etten, have announced a 20%-30% price increase across the board in March. According to the Sci-Tech Board Daily, Tencent Cloud's Intelligence Development Platform announced on March 11th the adjustment of its billing strategy, with public testing models transitioning from free to metered billing on the 13th, with the prices of hybrid series models increasing by over 400%. The popularization of AI applications and the OpenClaw framework may ignite the demand for reasoning, combined with limited production capacity of NVIDIA Corporation, increasing hardware costs, and domestic substitution gap, driving the market into a "seller's market", and judging that price hikes may continue, it is necessary to pay attention to investment opportunities in AI cloud IAAS. Three core beneficiary sectors of AI cloud IAAS price hikes to be noted: AIDC, computing power rental, and CDN The development of OpenClaw may significantly increase the demand for AI cloud IAAS, and the price increase by Tencent Cloud has opened up long-term price increase space for AI cloud IAAS, with AIDC, computing power rental, and CDN as core components of AI cloud IAAS benefiting. 1) AIDC data centers. Recommended targets: Beijing Sinnet Technology (300383.SZ), SUNEVISION (01686), Shanghai Baosight Software (600845.SH), Dawei Technology (Guangdong) Group (600589.SH), Guangdong Aofei Data Technology (300738.SZ), Range Intelligent Computing Technology Group (300442.SZ); Beneficiary targets: Guangdong Hec Technology Holding (600673.SH), Shanghai AtHub (603881.SH), GDS-SW (09698), VNET Group, Inc. Sponsored ADR (VNET.US), among others. 2) AIDC liquid cooling. Recommended targets: Shenzhen Envicool Technology (fully self-developed leader in liquid cooling) (002837.SZ); Beneficiary targets: Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems (301018.SZ), Far East Smarter Energy (600869.SH), Feilong Auto Components (002536.SZ), Zhejiang Yinlun Machinery (002126.SZ), Sanhe Tongfei Refrigeration (300990.SZ), Wangsu Science & Technology (300017.SZ), Guangzhou Goaland Energy Conservation Tech (300499.SZ), among others. 3) AIDC power supply. Beneficiary targets: Hangzhou Zhonhen Electric (002364.SZ), Shanghai Cooltech Power (300153.SZ), Weichai Heavy Machinery (000880.SZ), among others. 4) Computing power rental. Beneficiary targets: Glory View Technology (301396.SZ), Sharetronic Data Technology (300857.SZ), Jwipc Technology (001339.SZ), Capitalonline Data Service (300846.SZ), RunJian Co., Ltd. (002929.SZ), China Bester Group Telecom (603220.SH), Hangjin Technology (000818.SZ), among others. 5) CDN. Beneficiary targets: Wangsu Science & Technology (300017.SZ), among others. 6) AIDC computing and networking. Recommended targets: Hgtech (000988.SZ), Shengkong Communication (688702.SH), Zhongji Innolight (300308.SZ), Eoptolink Technology Inc. (300502.SZ), Hengtong Optic-Electric (600487.SH), Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology (600522.SH), ZTE Corporation (000063.SZ), Unisplendour Corporation (000938.SZ), Shenzhen Honor Electronic (300870.SZ), Suzhou TFC Optical Communication (300394.SZ); Beneficiary targets: Huawei AI (688256.SH), Hygon Information Technology (688041.SH), Huaqin Technology (603296.SH), Inspur Electronic Information Industry (000977.SZ), Ruijie Networks (301165.SZ), YOFC (06869), Yangtze Optical Fibre And Cable Joint Stock (601869.SH), Far East Smarter Energy (600869.SH), Fiberhome Telecommunication Technologies (600498.SH), Jiangsu Etern (600105.SH), Robotechnik Intelligent Technology (300757.SZ), Focuslight Technologies Inc. (688167.SH), Shenzhen Zesum Technology (301486.SZ), Shenzhen JPT Opto-electronics (688025.SH), among others. Risk warning: 5G construction is not as expected, AI development is not as expected, China-US trade friction, etc.