Securities Industry Rises in Serving the Path of Scientific and Technological Innovation

■ Zhou Shangyu

Recently, a set of data disclosed by the China Securities Association has attracted significant market attention: in 2025, there will be 83 securities firms serving as lead underwriters for technology innovation bonds, underwriting a total of 998 bonds with a scale of 1,021.935 billion yuan, surpassing the one trillion yuan mark for the first time in history.

This impressive data not only reflects the securities industry’s achievements in serving technological innovation and empowering the real economy but also signals a key transformation in the business model of securities firms—from a “channel-type intermediary” to a “value discovery hub.”

From the perspective of service models, the financial supply side is further aligning precisely with new productive forces. The core of new productive forces is “new,” which often means high uncertainty, long cycles, and light assets. Traditional credit models’ risk preferences and pricing logic struggle to accurately meet their growth needs. Against this backdrop, the importance of securities firms’ capital hub functions and professional pricing capabilities is increasingly evident. Through tools like equity-debt linkage, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity follow-on investments, securities firms can help tech companies solve the pain points of “difficult, expensive, and slow financing,” building a financial ecosystem covering startup incubation, growth financing, and mature M&A through a full lifecycle financial service model.

In terms of business form, investment banking is evolving from “single-point breakthroughs” to “full-chain collaboration.” To improve service quality, securities firms are breaking down departmental barriers, shifting from pure “soldier-on” investment banking to integrated coordination of research, investment banking, asset management, and investment. This “grouped, full-chain” service model actively explores the core value of tech companies and anticipates industry development trends, directing capital to the most innovative fields.

Of course, this trillion-yuan-level tech innovation bond market is both an opportunity and a “touchstone” for testing professional capabilities. Currently, the industry still has gaps to fill. Some securities firms remain stuck in the traditional path of “emphasizing issuance over research,” lacking in-depth analysis of the technological value and industry prospects of tech companies, and even blindly chasing popular sectors. For securities firms, this trillion-yuan market is not a “free lunch,” but an important opportunity to move away from homogeneity and toward high-quality development.

The key to breaking through lies in building a “penetrative” value discovery capability. Securities firms need to develop the expertise to penetrate technological barriers, deeply engage with frontline industries, understand the underlying logic of hard tech, and identify truly innovative companies with original technology, industry leadership, and core competitiveness from the source. This requires investment banking professionals to not only understand finance and law but also become versatile experts with both financial literacy and industry insight; research institutions must break free from the limitations of secondary market trend analysis, delve into primary markets, and become “radars” and “think tanks” for capturing tech trends and interpreting industry logic, strengthening the foundation for value judgment.

More importantly, the professional standards of securities firms also need upgrading. They should not only understand current financial statements but also anticipate future industry trends. Compared to mature companies, early-stage and growth-stage tech firms carry higher risks and longer return cycles. This demands securities firms to adopt a long-term perspective, accompanying companies through their growth, providing full-cycle, comprehensive financial services under controllable risks, and truly becoming partners, enablers, and protectors of tech innovation and development.

Serving new productive forces is a major mission entrusted to the securities industry by the times, which will also trigger profound changes. It tests not only capital strength but also professional capabilities in precise pricing, systematic resource integration, and strategic resilience in creating value. Looking ahead, only those securities firms that truly understand industries, root themselves in industries, and are willing to work hand-in-hand with innovators will be able to transform and elevate themselves amid the wave of developing new productive forces.