Seven Years of the STAR Market: 592 Companies + Over RMB 1.1 Trillion + Over RMB 9.6 Trillion

Huang Xiumei | www.chinastarmarket.cn

On November 5, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced the establishment of the STAR Market on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and the pilot implementation of the registration-based IPO system. Seven years later, the STAR Market has become a landmark practice in China's capital market reform. With "hard technology" as its core focus, it has written a brilliant chapter in serving technological innovation and the development of new-quality productive forces. Up to now, the number of STAR Market-listed companies has reached 592. Under the leadership of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the SSE has adhered to the sector's positioning, deepened institutional innovation, and the effects of reform have been continuously released.

Chinese-style modernization cannot be separated from the support of scientific and technological modernization. The fruitful achievements in scientific and technological innovation during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period have laid the foundation for economic and social development. The Proposals of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development emphasize strengthening original innovation and tackling key and core technologies. As the vanguard of capital market reform, the STAR Market is assuming a more significant mission in this regard.

Focusing on the listing of "hard-technology" enterprises to empower the development of new quality productive forces

The STAR Market accurately serves "hard technology" enterprises that conform to national strategies and break through key core technologies. Its diversified and inclusive issuance and listing regime, flexible equity incentive system, and market-oriented rules for mergers and acquisitions are highly compatible with the development needs of new-quality productive forces. The sector has raised a total of RMB 934.6 billion through IPOs and RMB 208.8 billion through refinancing, totaling over RMB 1.1 trillion, with a total market value exceeding RMB 9.6 trillion.

In the past year, 15 new companies were listed on the STAR Market, including three first-batch enterprises in the STAR Market Growth Tier such as Xi'an Eswin. Taking 2019 as the base year, the compound annual growth rates of revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders of companies in the sector over the past five years have reached 18% and 9% respectively. Among the 57 unprofitable companies at the time of listing, 22 have achieved profitability and removed the "U" (unprofitable) label. Among the 35 companies in the STAR Market Growth Tier, 33 that have disclosed their 2025 third-quarter reports achieved a 35.09% year-on-year increase in revenue, with a median R&D intensity of 44.34%. Among the 22 companies listed under the fifth set of standards, 21 have obtained market approval for 48 self-developed drugs and vaccines, and 16 of them have achieved revenue of over RMB 100 million. Their Class I innovative drugs account for 12 percent of the total number of domestic innovative drugs approved during the same period, making them a backbone force in China's pharmaceutical innovation.

Leveraging agglomeration effects to consolidate the foundation of a modern industrial system

Over 80% of STAR Market companies are concentrated in strategic emerging industries such as next-generation information technology and biopharmaceuticals, forming a significant agglomeration effect in key industrial chains. Taking the integrated circuit field as an example, more than 120 listed companies cover the entire industrial chain including design, manufacturing, and packaging & testing. Leaders such as SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) and AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China) have gathered to build a collaborative innovation pattern. SMIC's IPO financing of RMB 53.2 billion not only supported its own R&D and capacity expansion but also drove the coordinated development of upstream and downstream enterprises. Industry experts pointed out that the timely launch of the STAR Market has effectively alleviated the pressure of "chokepoints" in the integrated circuit field. At the same time, STAR Market companies have actively laid out future industries such as artificial intelligence and quantum information, continuously nurturing new-quality productive forces.

Tackle core technologies to escort high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement

Innovation investment is a distinctive label of the STAR Market. In 2024, the R&D investment of STAR Market companies reached RMB 168 billion, more than three times the net profit; in the first three quarters of 2025, R&D investment was RMB 113.345 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.01%, with a median R&D intensity of 12.4%, leading all A-share sectors. STAR Market companies have led or participated in 138 projects that have won major awards such as the National Science and Technology Awards, and have accumulated more than 130,000 invention patents.

Technological breakthroughs have been transformed into core competitiveness: 35 STAR Market companies rank first in the world in segmented industries or single products, and 124 rank first in China. 417 companies have been selected as specialized, refined, differentiated, and innovative "little giants" or manufacturing "single-item champion enterprises", accounting for 70% of the total number of companies in the sector. Over 80% of companies target import substitution with their core products, and more than 850 technologies of over 380 companies have reached the international advanced level.

"Technology + industry + capital" advance hand in hand to optimize the technological innovation ecosystem

The STAR Market has effectively smoothed the "technology-industry-capital" cycle and promoted the optimal allocation of factor resources. Over 60% of company founding teams are scientific research talents or industry experts, nearly 30% of actual controllers concurrently serve as core technical personnel and hold doctoral degrees, and nearly 40% have established cooperation with universities and research institutes. In the primary market, about 90% of companies received investment from venture capital institutions before listing, driving the formation of a trend of "investing early, investing in small enterprises, and investing in hard technology".

The construction of the secondary market has been continuously improved, forming a system composed of 33 indices. The number of listed ETFs has exceeded 100, with the scale of tracking products exceeding RMB 330 billion, and the STAR 50 Index has become a flagship index for "hard technology" investment. In 2024, the sector launched the initiative of "Improving Quality, Increasing Efficiency and Emphasizing Returns" with nearly 90% of companies disclosing action plans. Since 2024, 489 companies have launched share repurchase and increase plans, and 79 companies plan to distribute interim dividends of over RMB 6.1 billion in 2025. ESG practices have advanced simultaneously: 241 companies have separately disclosed ESG reports, and full coverage has been achieved among companies in the STAR 50 Index.

Serve as a reform "test field" to continuously deepen capital market reform

Since the pilot implementation of the registration-based system on the STAR Market, a series of institutional innovations have been launched in areas such as issuance, listing, trading, delisting, refinancing, and M&As. The diversified and inclusive listing standards have strengthened the entry threshold, the small-sum and fast-track financing mechanism has improved corporate financing efficiency, the market-oriented M&A pricing mechanism has stimulated market vitality, the second type of restricted stock has optimized incentive effects and increased inclusiveness, and the inquiry transfer system has improved the share reduction mechanism. These experiences have provided useful references for the reform of the STAR Market and the Main Board.

Reform practices have further promoted the legal construction of the capital market, providing practical support for the revision of the Securities Law and the introduction of the 11th Amendment to the Criminal Law. Systems such as the special representative litigation have taken the lead in landing. In the past two years, the "Eight Measures for the STAR Market" and the "1 + 6" reform measures have been successively implemented. Among them, the establishment of the STAR Market Growth Tier has accurately served unprofitable technology enterprises, with the first three enterprises listed in October 2025. Li Chao, Vice Chairman of the CSRC, stated that the overall progress of the STAR Market's "1 + 6" reform has been smooth. The pilot programs of establishing the STAR Growth Tier, introducing experienced institutional investors, and implementing pre-review mechanisms have advanced steadily, with related cases being implemented in an orderly manner. Industry experts said that the STAR Market Growth Tier provides an adaptive platform for initial-stage technology enterprises. After the expansion of the scope of application of the fifth set of listing standards, more technology enterprises may join, and the coverage of the STAR Market will be further expanded.

As for the next steps in the reform of the STAR Market, Qiu Yong, Chairman of the SSE, stated that in the future, it will adhere to the "hard technology" positioning, strictly control the access threshold, support cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy to apply the fifth set of standards, and provide flexible support for globally competitive technology companies to be listed.