Insurance Funds Back Hard-Tech IPOs via Private Equity as Balances Exceed RMB 40 Trillion

Recent months have brought an IPO wave across hard-technology sectors including artificial intelligence and high-end chips, with insurance fund investors appearing behind companies such as ChangXin Technology, Unitree Robotics and Pinzhun Laser. By incomplete count, more than 30 insurance institutions have made early investments in these hard-tech projects through private equity funds. As of end-June 2026, insurance fund balances exceeded RMB 40 trillion. Driven by both policy guidance and asset allocation pressure, insurance funds are forming an investment pattern of two-way penetration across primary and secondary markets.

On August 25, semiconductor equipment parts maker Gaokai Technology listed on the STAR Market. No insurance institution appeared among its direct shareholders or strategic placement list, but a look through its multiple private equity fund shareholders reveals insurance institutions among third- and fourth-tier investment partners. A week earlier, Pinzhun Laser listed on the STAR Market, with SDIC (Guangdong) Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Venture Capital Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) holding 3.57% (post-listing ratio). China Life, as an insurance limited partner, holds 10.6667% of that fund, giving it indirect exposure to Pinzhun Laser. Other insurers backing the private equity funds that invested in Pinzhun Laser include CPIC Life, the CPIC Big Health Industry Fund, CCB Life, Zijin P&C Insurance, Lian Life, Guohua Life, China Post Insurance, PICC Capital, Dajia Life and MetLife.

Taking CPIC Capital, the investment arm of China Pacific Insurance, as an example, at least 15 companies it invested in have gone public since 2026. Unitree Robotics, dubbed the "first A-share humanoid robot stock," received indirect insurance fund allocation through private equity fund limited partner positions before its IPO, with more than 30 insurance institutions including China Life, CPIC, Ping An, New China Life, ICBC-AXA Life, MetLife and Dongwu Life investing indirectly through private equity channels. Ping An contributed as a limited partner to two leading sci-tech funds managed by Sequoia China and IDG Capital, which handle project decision-making and post-investment management, giving Ping An indirect exposure to Unitree Robotics. Before memory chip leader ChangXin Technology's listing, Hexie Health Insurance, China Life Investment, PICC Capital, Sunshine Life, China Post Insurance and PICC Sci-Tech were all pre-IPO original shareholders.

Multiple large insurance institutions are conducting systematic asset allocation around the hard-tech track, with investment footprints extending into advanced manufacturing, AI, semiconductors, new energy, biomedicine, high-end equipment and other core tracks tied to new quality productive forces. Ping An has formed a linked primary- and secondary-market investment model. In the secondary market, it uses manager-of-managers funds, fund-of-funds, sector exchange-traded funds and other diversified professional channels to spread allocation across core tracks including AI, semiconductors and high-end manufacturing. China Post Insurance adopts a "direct investment plus fund" model for hard-tech positioning, covering chips, semiconductors, commercial aerospace, the low-altitude economy, humanoid robots, AI and green energy.

For sci-tech enterprises, insurance funds represent typical patient capital. Beyond capital input, they can provide broader empowerment value. Tang Zhihong, founder and chairman of Chaoqun Detection, said insurance fund investors place greater weight on long-term technology value and contribution to national strategy than on short-term listing progress, and can offer substantive support in financial management, corporate governance and industry resource connections. In September 2025, China Life Equity Investment Co. , Ltd. led Chaoqun Detection's Series D round, with proceeds mainly directed to high-end X-ray tube source technology research and development, capacity expansion and industry chain supporting construction. China Life Equity has built a deep footprint along the big health industry chain, investing in Innovent Biologics, WuXi AppTec and Xiantong Pharmaceutical in biomedicine, and in United Imaging and Mindray Medical in medical equipment and innovative devices.

In January 2026, China Life Equity invested in Shanghai Sudu Technology and continued to add capital in subsequent rounds. Ji Xiang, deputy director of China Life Equity's Innovation Investment Center, said the investment in Sudu Technology was based on the team's scarcity, the forward-looking nature and scalability of its technology route, and its ability to move from technology validation to industrial implementation. Jiang Li, managing director of China Life Equity, said the company will leverage insurance funds' long-term, patient capital advantages to advance in three key areas: first, expanding frontier positioning in "AI plus" fields including core algorithms, computing infrastructure and embodied intelligent robots; second, deepening big health and biomedicine by promoting the integration of AI with new drug development, organ chips and smart health management; and third, increasing allocation to strategic emerging industries and future industries.

Hard technology mostly sits in emerging frontier fields with rapid technology iteration and high professional thresholds, placing demanding requirements on investment institutions' industry knowledge and technology assessment capabilities. Sci-tech enterprises typically have long growth cycles and elevated project uncertainty, while insurance funds, constrained by their liability profile, pursue stable returns. An investment business head at one insurance institution said the firm is strengthening its own investment research capabilities while leveraging asset allocation advantages to work with external quality investment managers, carrying out balanced deployment across different development stages of sci-tech enterprises and smoothing the earnings impact of individual project outcomes through multi-track diversification.