Don’t sleep on Chinese stocks

China is back in the news.

President Trump flying to Beijing for the first time in years.

And he’s taking the entire US economy with him.

Passengers on board Air Force One include:

NVDA — Nvidia (Jensen Huang)

TSLA — Tesla (Elon Musk)

AAPL — Apple (Tim Cook / “Tim Apple”)

BLK — BlackRock (Larry Fink)

BA — Boeing (Kelly Ortberg)

GS — Goldman Sachs (David Solomon)

MU — Micron (Sanjay Mehrotra)

QCOM — Qualcomm (Cristiano Amon)

…and about a dozen more CEOs.

It’s the biggest economic “show of force” in years.

But Trump is about to walk into an even bigger technological show of force.

The Chinese love to flex their tech muscle at these kinds of meetings.

Expect drone swarms lighting up the sky. Humanoid robots pulling off wild acrobatics. And flying taxis hovering overhead.

This trip is about to open a lot of investors’ eyes to just how technologically advanced China has become.

And what they’ve been missing by ignoring Chinese stocks.

I’ll show you my preferred way to profit from it all in a minute.

But first, here are five key areas where Chinese tech has caught up, or even surpassed the US.

First, artificial intelligence (AI).

Last year, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek dropped a model that rivals Silicon Valley’s finest. And, in classic Chinese fashion, it cost about 90% less to run.

It’s also open-source and free, which is a big problem for US AI giants.

The news rocked the investing world, as China seemingly came out of nowhere and challenged big tech’s monopoly on AI.

Back in January, my colleagues Stephen McBride and Chris Wood put together 10 potential disruptions to watch for 2026. They ranked each event by its probability of happening and disruptive potential. China shocking the world again with another DeepSeek moment was top of the list.

China is also developing domestic AI chips at a breathtaking pace. Made-in-China silicon now powers roughly half of China’s AI market, up from almost zero just a few years ago.

Have you heard about China’s “robot army?”

China puts more robots to work each year than all other countries combined. In 2024, it installed about 300,000 industrial robots, more than half the global total. US factories installed just 34,000.

Xiaomi’s latest state-of-the-art EV factory is almost entirely run by robots. They assemble a brand-new EV every 76 seconds.

The vast majority of Chinese robots work in factories. But now, they’re expanding into the real world.

Maybe you’ve seen Boston Dynamics’ robot dogs climbing stairs and opening doors. You can buy one of them today for around $75,000.

China’s leading robotics company makes a robot dog you can buy for just $1,500.

They also sell a humanoid robot that can handle basic household tasks like carrying items, opening doors, and cleaning surfaces for just $4,900.

China even has robocops patrolling the streets.

At this point, there are no US humanoid robots for sale. Tesla won’t start selling Optimus until next year.

China makes more than 70% of the world’s drones.

In 2015, China launched its “Made in China 2025” initiative. It was meant to build China into an industrial power in 10 years. Spoiler alert: it succeeded.

As part of the initiative, the CCP selected four “national champion” companies to lift up and subsidize. Drone maker DJI was one of them.

Today, DJI owns 70% of the global drone market and 80% of the US drone market (!). It dominates the drone market far more than Apple dominates the smartphone market.

And it’s not that DJI merely makes the most drones while US companies make the best commercial drones. DJI’s drones are the gold standard for hardware. They dominate in both quantity and quality.

DJI’s factories are so highly automated, drones can fly themselves from one station to another during assembly!

Not-so-coincidentally, Shenzhen recently hosted a Guinness World Record-setting drone lightshow. 10,200 drones danced together in the dark sky, shifting between patriotic Chinese shapes.

China is also pulling ahead in the autonomy race.

Last year, China became the first country to approve flying taxis.

eVTOL stands for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

Think of them as electric helicopters. They can take off straight up. Fly across a city. And land without needing a runway.

And because they’re whisper quiet, they can operate out of conveniently located downtown terminals.

You can take a ride in one in several Chinese cities already. Like self-driving taxis, these operate without a pilot on board. Scary. And fascinating at the same time.

Meanwhile, the US is still stuck in the testing phase.

China is also starting to pull ahead of the US in self-driving cars.

The big reason is that half of all EVs sold in the world in 2025 were Chinese.

Chief among them is BYD (BYDDY). It’s outselling Tesla 3:1.

BYDs are better than most other cars you’ve ever sat in. Everything in the car is voice-controlled. It’s like a giant Alexa on wheels.

The scale of BYD is hard to wrap your head around. Its largest factory in Zhengzhou, China, spans over 50 square miles — bigger than San Francisco.

And don’t sleep on CATL, the Chinese battery giant powering the autonomous revolution.

It controls 40% of the EV battery market, supplying Tesla, General Motors (GM), and others. Its latest batteries can go 930 miles on one charge — New York to New Orleans on a single trip.

And lastly, energy.

China is the world’s top solar producer. It installed more solar power last year than the US has in all of its history!

And it’s racing ahead in nuclear energy, too. It just approved plans to build 10 new nuclear units for $27 billion. Those 10 new reactors cost less than the $35 billion America paid for its two newest reactors, which took 15 years to finish.

With 58 reactors currently operating and another 28 being built, China’s nuclear fleet is on track to leapfrog America’s by 2030.

Their new small modular reactor (SMRs) and thorium molten-salt reactor (a world first) are game-changers. They’re cheaper, faster, and easier to build than US counterparts.

Cheap, abundant energy is one of the hidden ingredients behind every technological revolution.

So, how do you profit from it all?

I still believe investing in single Chinese stocks is risky.

Back in 2020 I invested in IoT giant Xiaomi. Then Trump blacklisted it two months later and it dropped +30%.

All Chinese tech stocks carry some version of this political risk. At the end of the day, the US and China are rivals. And sanctions, tariffs, and trade wars can and will happen.

Still, it’s a mistake to ignoring China’s burgeoning tech sector.

That’s why it’s better to buy China’s “Nasdaq” ETF — the Invesco China Technology ETF (CQQQ).

CQQQ’s main holdings including companies at the forefront of China’s tech revolution.

GDS Holdings (GDS) builds AI data centers… Cambricon Technologies produces China’s best chips… and Sunny Optical makes components that help devices “see” clearly, whether that’s a phone taking photos or a car detecting obstacles.

In total, CQQQ holds 177 of China’s top tech firms. It’s the best exposure to Chinese stocks. Add it to your portfolio.