At the 2026 Yabuli Forum Summer Annual Meeting held in Chengdu from September 4th to 6th, under the theme "Enterprise Innovation and Cycle Crossing," Cong Yonggang, Co-Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Fortune Strength Capital, offered a candid perspective on the shifting power dynamics in AI industry investing.

Reflecting on his early days in the field over a decade ago, Cong noted that investment institutions genuinely held the upper hand as "buyers" in a less crowded market. With fewer players entering the fray, companies faced greater difficulty securing funding, and the negotiation terms were significantly more favorable for investors.

Today, however, the scenario has inverted completely. In the current AI boom, investors have been relegated to what Cong describes as "the supplier's supplier" — a position of unprecedented subordination. "We often have to prepare extensive materials just to demonstrate what services we can provide to the companies we wish to invest in," he explained, highlighting the bureaucratic hustle now required on the investor's side.

Despite these efforts, investors frequently encounter rigid financing deadlines imposed by startups in their relentless pursuit of capital. Cong outlined how companies will dictate terms based on speed, stating: "They give you timelines — signing within three days at one price, within seven days at another, within a month at yet another price, all while pushing through multiple consecutive funding rounds." Objectively speaking, he acknowledged that this situation creates considerable psychological discomfort for investment professionals.

Shifting to market fundamentals, Cong argued that the AI market cannot expand indefinitely. He posited that its ultimate ceiling is determined by global household consumption totals and general public investment by governments worldwide. He emphasized a crucial economic principle: B2B enterprises are not the final consumers. "All products purchased by enterprises are ultimately passed on to C-end consumers or G-end governments," he stated, noting that even when companies procure intelligent Agents or pay Token usage fees, those expenses are merely booked as management or IT costs, with companies still needing to sell their goods and services to end customers.

Turning his attention to the memory chip sector, Cong applied this long-term lens to assess current valuations. He argued that the overall market size of the storage track cannot sustain a 1-trillion market capitalization over the long term. The current high profits, he explained, are merely a cyclical windfall resulting from short-term shortages, and from a long-term valuation perspective, prices appear overextended.

However, Cong sees significant room for growth in China's domestic memory market. Based on a 3:7 market division, he calculated that China's local memory segment corresponds to a market space of 3 trillion US dollars. While overseas manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron collectively hold roughly 70% market share, leaving only a 30% incremental share for domestic companies, Cong noted that ChangXin Memory (CXMT) currently stands as the only core enterprise in the domestic memory particle track, meaning its market share has substantial upside potential.

Addressing common investor perceptions, Cong concluded: "Although people generally think ChangXin has a higher price-to-earnings ratio and appears more expensive, when you extrapolate backward from the mid-game market size, I actually believe ChangXin offers better investment value." He was quick to add that these views represent his personal perspective and may not be entirely accurate.