Guolian Minsheng Securities: AI infrastructure is reshaping the manufacturing industry, industrial transformation brings equipment opportunities.

Guolian Minsheng Securities released a research report stating that the reshaping effect of AI technology on the manufacturing industry is still deepening, and the economic characteristics will continue in the second half of the year. At the same time, it is worth paying attention to the penetration of AI from the "infrastructure side" to the "application side", opening up new space for high-end equipment with embodied intelligence. China is advancing technology research and development in multiple tracks simultaneously, and it is expected that there will be breakthroughs in the above-mentioned cutting-edge technology fields in the second half of the year, which will catalyze the market performance of research equipment and supporting equipment sectors. It is expected that the growth trend of technology equipment will continue in the second half of the year, with demand rising for technology equipment such as semiconductor equipment and PCB equipment. The main points of Guolian Minsheng Securities are as follows: Technology equipment leads in the first half of the year, highlighting structural market trends As of July 6th, the China Machinery Industry Index has risen by 14.54% this year, outperforming the Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index by 9.96 percentage points as it rose by 4.58%. The market is more focused than in previous years: funds are significantly tilted towards "technology to equipment", with high-end semiconductor equipment such as front-end/back-end equipment, PCB drilling and numerical control drilling equipment, representing the overall semiconductor high-end equipment sector, benefiting from the expansion of AI computing power infrastructure, showing a strong upward trend; gas turbines, high-efficiency liquid cooling systems and other AI data center supporting equipment also exhibit stage-specific excess returns. The reshaping effect of AI technology on the manufacturing industry continues to deepen The bank has previously mentioned the profound impact of AI technology on the manufacturing industry. In the first half of the year, the bank observed that due to the construction and upgrading of AI data centers, there has been a shortage of supply in the semiconductor equipment, high-end PCB processing equipment, heavy-duty gas turbines, high-density power sources, and liquid cooling temperature control equipment sectors, leading to an increase in production capacity and prices; the bank judges that the above-mentioned economic characteristics will continue in the second half of the year. At the same time, it is worth paying attention to the process of AI penetration from the "infrastructure side" to the "application side", which opens up new space for high-end equipment with embodied intelligence. AI infrastructure is expected to drive relevant sectors into a medium to long-term economic upturn cycle Global tech giants continue to increase investments in AI computing clusters, driving upstream chip manufacturing, packaging testing, and supporting electrical/thermal management component demand to systematically rebound. Different from the previous rounds of equipment updates driven by military support, home appliance popularity, new energy installation or automotive electrification, this round of AI infrastructure has a faster start, a broader industry chain activation and significantly higher market expectations, making it potentially the largest economic upturn cycle in the domestic high-end equipment sector to date. The expansion of front-end semiconductor production, IC load board/PCB production line upgrades, gas turbine unit replacement, and liquid cooling module penetration in the first half of the year have already confirmed this trend, and it is expected to deepen further in the second half of the year with the accelerated release of overseas CSP Capex. AI application side enters industrialization phase Embodied intelligence is the core carrier of AI technology from the cloud to the physical world. With the growing maturity of multimodal large models and the declining cost of edge computing power, the implementation of AI hardware in real-life scenarios is getting closer. The bank believes that the years 2026-2027 will be a critical window period for the emergence of AI applications, as terminal products such as humanoid Siasun Robot & Automation, AR/VR smart glasses will move from early stage validation to mass production, bringing incremental demand for servos, reducers, micro displays, sensors, and specialized assembly equipment. Technological competition extends beyond AI The evolution of AI is a microcosm of the strategic competition among major countries in science and technology, and strategic competition is not limited to artificial intelligence. Frontiers such as commercial space exploration, quantum computing, and construction of controllable nuclear fusion experimental devices are increasingly becoming areas where national technological security cannot retreat. Leveraging significant engineering talent dividends and a complete manufacturing chain advantage, China is advancing technological research and development in multiple tracks simultaneously, and it is expected that there will be breakthroughs in the above-mentioned cutting-edge technology fields in the second half of the year, which will catalyze the market performance of research equipment and supporting equipment sectors. Risk alerts: risks of fluctuations in raw material prices, lower-than-expected downstream industry demand, slower-than-expected localization processes, international trade frictions, and exchange rate fluctuations.