ZJ Innolight repurchased roughly 857,000 A-shares (300308.SZ) for about RMB795 million on September 23, at RMB921.85-935 per share. The buyback provided direct bid support to the Shenzhen line while the Hong Kong listing (03308.HK) fell 2.379% with short selling at HK$123.40 million, or 8.551% of turnover.
ZJ Innolight repurchased about 857,000 of its Shenzhen-listed A-shares for roughly RMB795 million on September 23, paying between RMB921.85 and RMB935 apiece, the company said in a filing.
The buyback landed on the same session that short sellers pressed the Hong Kong line. Short selling in 03308.HK reached HK$123.40 million, equal to 8.551% of turnover, while the H-shares closed down 2.379% at HK$1,190.00, according to AAStocks data as of 16:25 local time. The A-shares (300308.SZ) slipped a milder 0.563%, or RMB5.22.
The repurchase covers a fraction of the register. At roughly 857,000 shares, the program absorbs well under 0.1% of the company's outstanding A-share count, a scale that reads as a price signal rather than a structural reduction in the float. Zhongji Innolight did not disclose a total authorization size or an end date for the program in the filing.
The divergence between the two listings is the story. A-share holders received direct bid support from the company's own balance sheet; H-share holders absorbed a short ratio above 8.5% with no equivalent backstop. That gap matters because the two lines price the same optical-module business, and the H-share discount has widened as offshore positioning turned defensive.
The demand backdrop has not deteriorated. Morgan Stanley noted that Huawei's Ascend 960 SuperPoD platform introduces NPO optical interconnect, a design shift that keeps China's AI hardware supply chain on a competitive footing against US alternatives. Zhongji Innolight sits at the center of that chain, supplying the high-speed transceivers that connect AI clusters.
Global peers are reading the same demand curve. Ciena has said it expects to exit fiscal 2026 with more than $10 billion of backlog, with customer request dates stretching into 2027, and management described the industry as early in a multi-year network investment cycle. ADTRAN reported hyperscaler revenue up 97% year over year, driven by data-center interconnect activity. Both flagged component supply as the binding constraint, not orders.
For holders, the buyback sets a visible floor under the A-share line near the RMB920 level, but it does not address the offshore short base. The next test is whether the H-share short ratio retreats below 8% in coming sessions; a sustained reading above that threshold would suggest the bearish positioning is conviction rather than a tactical hedge. Zhongji Innolight's next scheduled disclosure will show whether the company extends the repurchase.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
