China Life, the leading life insurer, is continuously ramping up its investment in hard technology. On the evening of September 24, China Life Insurance Company Limited (ASX: 601628) announced that the company plans to join with related parties China Life Chengda, China Life Wuxi Fund, and other investors to jointly establish Qingdao Chengxin Zhida Equity Investment Center (Limited Partnership), with total subscribed capital contributions from all partners not exceeding 6 billion yuan, of which China Life intends to subscribe no more than 4.5 billion yuan.

The partnership will focus on investing in high-quality unlisted equity in the artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors, with an operating term of 6 years. This marks the fourth hard technology-oriented equity investment fund announced by China Life since 2026, with total hard technology equity investments for the year reaching 16.299 billion yuan.

In terms of performance, from January to June 2026, the company achieved operating revenue of 434.307 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 81.5%; realized net profit attributable to shareholders of 134.489 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 228.6%, the best since listing; net profit excluding non-recurring items of 134.560 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 228.1%; weighted average return on equity of 21.07%, up 13.24 percentage points year-on-year, marking a significant leap in capital utilization efficiency.

In the first half of the year, China Life's investment income surged. Data shows that from January to June, China Life achieved total investment income of 314.504 billion yuan, a substantial increase of 186.998 billion yuan compared to the same period last year, a growth rate of 146.7%; total investment yield reached 5.58%, up 229 basis points from the same period last year.

Four Hard Tech Moves This Year with Cumulative Investment of 16.3 Billion Yuan

Against the backdrop of continued enthusiasm in hard technology tracks such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors, China Life, as a representative of leading insurance capital, has significantly accelerated its equity investment layout in the technology innovation field since 2026.

According to the announcement, the Qingdao Chengxin Zhida Fund established this time has total subscribed capital contributions from all partners not exceeding 6 billion yuan, of which China Life intends to subscribe no more than 4.5 billion yuan. It is reported that China Life Chengda (Shanghai) Healthcare Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd. serves as the general partner and executive事务 partner, and China Life Equity Investment Co., Ltd. serves as the fund manager. China Life Equity is an indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of China Life (Group) Company, the controlling shareholder of China Life, so this transaction constitutes a related-party transaction, but does not constitute a major asset restructuring and does not require submission to the shareholders' meeting for review.

Regarding the investment direction, China Life explicitly stated in the announcement that the partnership will invest around two major areas: artificial intelligence and semiconductors, focusing on high-quality unlisted enterprises in the industry chain with core technological barriers, broad import substitution space, and prominent long-term growth certainty. The company stated that this move is a concrete measure to implement the "15th Five-Year Plan" deployment and support emerging pillar industries.

This is not the first time China Life has made a move in hard technology in 2026. A review by the reporter found that China Life has successively announced the establishment of three hard technology-oriented equity investment funds during the year. Specifically, on January 23, the company announced a subscription of 4 billion yuan to participate in the establishment of Huizhi Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund, investing in three leading industries: artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, and biomedicine; on March 26, the company announced a subscription of 2.8 billion yuan to participate in the establishment of Fujian Xinrui Relay Technology Innovation Equity Investment Fund, focusing on the private equity secondary market, investing in technology innovation fields through fund secondary shares and continuation restructuring funds; on July 11, the company again announced a subscription of 4.999 billion yuan to participate in the establishment of Tianjin Shenghe Xincheng Equity Investment Fund, focusing on the semiconductor industry. Adding this 4.5 billion yuan, China Life's four hard technology-oriented funds in 2026 total subscribed contributions of 16.299 billion yuan.

From the investment landscape disclosed in the semi-annual report, as of the end of June 2026, China Life's investment assets reached 7,946.101 billion yuan, an increase of 7.0% from the beginning of the year, with the stock of investment serving the real economy exceeding 6 trillion yuan, of which technology finance investment scale exceeds 1 trillion yuan, and investment serving new quality productive forces exceeds 540 billion yuan, covering key areas such as next-generation information technology, high-end manufacturing, new energy, and new materials.

From the allocation structure perspective, the allocation ratio of stocks and funds (excluding money market funds) increased from 16.89% at the beginning of the year to 19.14%, with long-term equity asset layout continuing to advance.

In addition to hard technology, China Life has other layouts in the equity investment field since 2026. On January 23, the company announced a subscription of 8.4915 billion yuan to participate in the establishment of Beijing China Life Pension Industry Equity Investment Fund Phase II, with a total fund size of 8.5 billion yuan, focusing on investment in the pension industry,围绕 the two main lines of merger and acquisition of existing pension real estate projects and expansion of new pension real estate projects, laying out institutional pension projects such as boutique medical care apartments and comprehensive CCRC communities.

In addition to primary market direct investment, China Life's long-term layout in the secondary market is equally noteworthy. The Honghu Fund, jointly initiated and established by China Life and New China Life Insurance, is the first domestic insurance capital private securities investment fund and is regarded as a benchmark project for long-term investment reform of insurance funds. Public information shows that the Honghu Fund has established Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III, totaling five products, with a total scale of 110 billion yuan. From the holdings perspective, the Honghu Fund focuses on low-frequency trading and long-term holding, heavily weighting high-dividend blue chips such as China Shenhua, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Shaanxi Coal Industry, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China Telecom at the end of the second quarter, complementing the primary market hard technology investment.

First Half Net Profit Attributable to Shareholders Up 228.6%

The confidence for bold equity investments comes from China Life's impressive operating performance in the first half of the year. The 2026 semi-annual report shows that the company achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of 134.489 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 228.6%, far ahead among the five major listed insurance companies in A-shares; achieved total premium income of 536.634 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%; new business value of 38.167 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.7%, continuing to lead the industry; embedded value of 1.61 trillion yuan, firmly ranking first in the industry.

The core engine of profit growth comes from the investment side. In the first half of the year, China Life's total investment income reached 314.504 billion yuan, a substantial increase of 186.998 billion yuan from 127.506 billion yuan in the same period last year; total investment yield of 5.58%, up 229 basis points from the same period last year. Among them, net investment income was 100.402 billion yuan, investment asset trading price difference income was 75.507 billion yuan, and fair value change gains and losses were as high as 135.835 billion yuan, compared to only 1.029 billion yuan in the same period last year, becoming the largest source of profit jump. This is mainly due to the revaluation of existing bond market value brought about by the decline in long-term interest rates in the bond market, as well as the recovery of the equity market boosting the fair value of trading financial assets.

The liability side also performed steadily. In the first half of 2026, China Life achieved total premium income of 536.634 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%; new single premium of 180.039 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%; first-year regular premium of 101.294 billion yuan, breaking through 100 billion yuan for the first time in the same period in history, a year-on-year increase of 24.7%, of which first-year regular premium of ten years and above was 36.121 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.2%, accounting for 35.66% of first-year regular premium, with the business structure continuing to tilt towards long-term and high-value.

In terms of channels, the individual insurance channel firmly holds the basic盘. As of the end of June, the company's individual insurance sales force was approximately 610,000, including approximately 380,000 in the marketing team and approximately 230,000 in the collection and expansion team, with total sales force of approximately 660,000, maintaining the industry's first scale. In the first half of the year, the individual insurance channel achieved total premium of 402.269 billion yuan, first-year regular premium of 75.526 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.9%; new business value of 33.464 billion yuan, a significant year-on-year increase of 37.5%, contributing nearly 90% to the company's value.

The bancassurance channel showed characteristics of "improving quality and increasing efficiency." In the first half of the year, the bancassurance channel achieved total premium of 81.458 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.4%; new single premium of 41.661 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.1%; first-year regular premium of 25.435 billion yuan, a significant year-on-year increase of 49.3%; renewal premium of 39.797 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.8%, accounting for 48.86% of the channel's total premium. The bancassurance channel had approximately 20,000 customer managers, with per capita regular premium production capacity significantly increased by 37.1% year-on-year; new single policy-issuing outlets increased by 10.4% year-on-year, of which the number of star-rated outlets increased by 59.9% year-on-year.

In addition, the company's internet insurance business total premium was 76.925 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%; group insurance channel total premium was 14.576 billion yuan, short-term insurance premium was 13.510 billion yuan, with operating efficiency improving.

As of the end of June, the company's comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio was 197.78%, and core solvency adequacy ratio was 156.80%, continuing to maintain sufficient levels, and maintaining a Class A risk comprehensive rating for 32 consecutive quarters.

While achieving record-high performance, China Life simultaneously launched an interim dividend plan, which has been reviewed and approved by the shareholders' meeting. The company will distribute a cash dividend of 0.358 yuan per share (including tax), totaling approximately 10.119 billion yuan, with A-share shareholder dividends expected to be paid before October 19.