CITIC Securities: Physical AI Explosion Exploits End-Side Opportunities
The Zhitong Finance App learned that CITIC Securities released a research report saying that recent industrial events such as OpenAI, Nvidia GTC, and Yushu Technology Ecological Conference catalyzed industrial events such as OpenAI, Nvidia GTC, and the Yushu Technology Ecological Conference, and that early stock price adjustments in the superposition sector were sufficient, and differences in expectations in the storage industry were jointly driving the sector's market explosion. Considering that the core change in this round of narrative is the further strengthening of the connection between model capabilities and terminal hardware, the bank suggests seizing end-side investment opportunities from the three leads of upgrading robot capabilities, expanding data collection requirements, and innovating end-side entrances. It is recommended to focus on: 1. Leading brands with steady main business operations and an end-side industrial chain layout; 2. Flexible targets with prominent end side layout and full stock price adjustments before.
CITIC Securities's main views are as follows:
Market concerns related to physical AI and end-side applications are rapidly heating up, and industrial event catalysis, chip structure, and capital adjustments all resonate
From 2026/10/19 to 2026/10/24, machine vision and perception were active in the electronics sector. Obi Zhongguang, Opt, and Ling Yunguang rose 52.5%/44.1%/35.7% respectively; the CITIC Consumer Electronics Index rose 6.6%, showing outstanding performance. The bank believes that this round of the market is a triple resonance formed by combining industrial event catalysis with chip structure and capital direction adjustments: 1) events such as the OpenAI layout robot, Nvidia GTC upgrade robot development tool chain, and the Yushu Technology Ecological Conference have strengthened expectations that the big model will extend to the physical world; 2) some robot and end-side application-related companies have made sufficient early adjustments to provide conditions for valuation repair under the new catalyst; 3) the market's expectations for storage price increases are divided, and capital is looking for new trading directions within the technology sector. Three factors have jointly driven the explosion of the physical AI and end-side application sectors.
Focus on key trading lines such as robot capability upgrades, data collection, and end-side entry innovation
In the direction of robotics, the core changes in the industry are that large models improve task understanding and planning capabilities, and promote application expectations in industrial and warehousing scenarios. The model can understand more complex instructions and is expected to expand the range of tasks that existing hardware can perform; to achieve stable execution, it is still necessary to solve the problems of real-time control, spatial perception, fine operation, and hardware reliability. Based on this, the value of the industrial chain extends further from main control and co-processing chips to visual, inertial, magnetic sensing, force sensing, and motor driving.
In terms of data collection, according to Nvidia's official website, the data set that includes information such as multi-view video and 3D hand tracking simultaneously launched by Nvidia at the GTC conference shows the importance the industry attaches to motion and interaction data. For grasping, contact, and dexterous operation, images alone are still insufficient to fully describe the task process; posture, movement, and tactile feedback are also required. High-quality data collection has become a core bottleneck in the development of physical AI. First-perspective acquisition equipment, optical motion, tactile gloves, and 3D vision are important tools for data collection.
In the direction of end side entry, according to media reports such as Axios and Bloomberg, OpenAI continues to advance new hardware research and development. Apple plans to further iterate on end-side products such as desktop robots, Meta, and RokID, etc., and expand end-side interactive voice, vision, and portable sensing. It is expected that industry chain opportunities will be further transmitted to optical and precision structural components and complete machinery manufacturing along low-power SoCs, wireless connections, audio, cameras, and interaction sensors.
Risk factors:
Global macroeconomic downturn; changes in the international political environment and intensification of trade frictions; downstream demand falls short of expectations; AI innovation falls short of expectations; AI commercialization falls short of expectations; domestic fab production expansion falls short of expectations; development of advanced process technology falls short of expectations; competition among downstream manufacturers intensifies; risk of sharp price increases for raw materials due to inflation; increased US sanctions against China; large exchange rate fluctuations; technological iteration falls short of expectations, etc.