China's Shanghai Composite Index closed higher on Wednesday (Aug. 27), led by artificial intelligence (AI) and hardware stocks, after Nvidia, a major U.S. AI chip maker, reported better-than-expected earnings, which eased concerns about the AI investment trend. The index closed at 3,956.57 points, up 44.05 points, or 1.13%. CXMT, a major Chinese memory chip maker, rose 5.38%, while Shengyi Technology, a producer of base materials for electronic equipment, surged 8.43%. Optical fiber cable makers also rose, led by Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable, which jumped by the daily trading limit of 10%. As for Chinese economic data released on Wednesday, industrial companies' profits expanded 11.2% in July from a year earlier, down from 15.1% in June, marking the slowest growth in seven months. Export-oriented industries benefited significantly from the global AI boom, but those reliant on domestic demand continued to face heavy pressure. The July figure brought the cumulative profit growth for the first seven months to 17.6%, down from 18.7% in the first six months. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed that industrial companies with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan had combined profits of 4.58 trillion yuan in January-July.
