Overseas investors are effectively investing early in Chinese AI semiconductor companies through perpetual futures on cryptocurrency exchanges, an analysis said. With direct access to mainland Chinese equities limited, investors are betting on pre-listing prices via crypto derivatives. Trading has surged ahead of ChangXin Memory Technologies\' planned STAR Market listing. The products allow round-the-clock trading without owning shares and are seen as a way to bypass China’s foreign investment restrictions and perform price discovery before IPO pricing.