The Young People Who Bought Into "Yi-Zhong-Tian"

This article is from the WeChat public account: Real Story Lab, Editor: Zhang Duo, Author: Liang Xiang

"I'll say it again: time will prove optical modules and computing power."

Douyin blogger "Li Yien" has found the traffic cheat code. Before commenting on the stock market every day, he shouts this slogan.

After shouting it for over a year, the likes on his short videos stubbornly rose from two or three thousand per clip to forty or fifty thousand. Netizens eager to make money together flocked to the comments section seeking the master's guidance. Some asked about the trend of their held stocks, while others worried if it was too late to "stand in the light."

"You should stand in the light, not just stand there" is a pun currently used by investors to joke around. The rapid surge of AI has triggered an explosion in demand for computing power, and optical modules, located upstream in the industry chain, are an indispensable part of computing power infrastructure.

The stock prices of the three major optical module leaders—Eoptolink, Zhongji Innolight, and Tianfu Communications—have surged particularly fiercely. Investors took one character from each of these three stocks and combined them into the nickname "Yi-Zhong-Tian".

Calculated from the low point in April 2025, Eoptolink has risen 16 times, Zhongji Innolight has risen 17 times, and Tianfu Communications has also risen 10 times. Those who bought into "Yi-Zhong-Tian" early on have made a fortune.

Among those who made a fortune is Xueqiu user "Yang Shuang 511". At the beginning of 2023, when ChatGPT went viral, he sensed an opportunity. Among a host of AI targets, he chose optical modules and took positions in Eoptolink and Zhongji Innolight.

His logic was that in the previous Internet revolution, the first wave of beneficiaries was the hardware infrastructure, and this round of AI boom should be no exception. Moreover, Eoptolink and Zhongji Innolight are leading enterprises whose financial data far outpaces their peers, and their business is pure enough.

Admitting that his short-term trading skills were lacking, he simply gave up on swing trading and held for the long term. Over three years, the CPO route debate, the questioning of computing power demand sparked by DeepSeek, and tariff wars all caused the stock prices to pull back multiple times. But Yang Shuang 511 judged that none of these could shake the fundamentals of optical modules, and he held on.

Calculated based on the adjusted price, his purchase costs were about 11 yuan and 55 yuan respectively. Holding them until today, one stock has risen about 50 times, and the other about 20 times.

Yuan Yi from Beijing, who has been trading stocks for nearly 15 years, also made a profit from "Yi-Zhong-Tian".

In 2024, when Nvidia's stock price kept hitting new highs, he looked into Nvidia's suppliers and noticed Zhongji Innolight. However, he felt the timing wasn't right and held his ground.

Starting in July 2025, Zhongji Innolight's stock price surged, rising from 139 yuan all the way to 400 yuan. Yuan Yi was tempted but didn't dare to make a move. A few months later, Zhongji Innolight suddenly pulled back from its peak of 456 yuan. He seized the opportunity and bought in at a price in the 300s.

Daring to buy on the dip, Yuan Yi believed that as long as people's demand for AI remains and AI infrastructure continues to grow, "Yi-Zhong-Tian" still had a shot. Sure enough, after he entered, Zhongji Innolight continued its rapid advance.

In April this year, after Zhongji Innolight's stock price broke through 700 yuan, Yuan Yi reduced his position by half and took back his principal. The remaining half of his position is all profit; it's just a matter of how much more he makes.

Image | The Zhongji Innolight stock Yuan Yi purchased has multiplied several times

Various stories of profitable trades have been retold online time and again. Young people wanting a share of the era's dividend are squeezing into the light.

However, the light is not cheap. At current stock prices, buying just one lot (100 shares) of each of the "Yi-Zhong-Tian" stocks would require an investment of over 200,000 yuan, enough to keep many people out.

Pidan from Hubei became a freelance ski instructor after leaving an internet company. With fewer classes in the summer, she wanted some extra income and tried wealth management for the first time. After buying a messy mix of various funds on Alipay, Pidan noticed that the CPO sector funds performed exceptionally well: when others fell, they rose; when others rose slightly, they surged.

Pidan started self-studying fund investment knowledge online, followed a few bloggers with real portfolios, and referenced their operations daily. The more she learned, the more certain Pidan became that CPO was the major market trend right now. So, from an initial 2,000 yuan test, she kept adding to her position all the way to over 60,000 yuan, with a first-month return of 2,600 yuan.

There are no small number of young people attracted by the low threshold like Pidan. Shi Mengdi, a girl from Beijing with a stable income, frequently heard people chatting about CPO in her friends' group chat. Two weeks ago, she also followed the trend and spent over 20,000 yuan to buy CPO funds.

Since June, the funds have been highly volatile. Staring at the fluctuating numbers every day has become Shi Mengdi's "thrilling" routine lately.

Image | The CPO fund Shi Mengdi bought is on a roller coaster every day

Because her account remained profitable, Shi Mengdi wasn't panicked by the volatility and even introduced the fund wealth method to her cousin working in Shenzhen.

Seeing his cousin's fund returns fluctuating by the thousands, the cousin lamented, "How can I still be in the mood to work?" while asking, "Is now a good time to get on board?"

This recommendation between Shi Mengdi and her cousin is a microcosm of this market rally's spread: veteran stock investors tell new fund investors, new fund investors tell those without brokerage accounts, and FOMO (fear of missing out) emotions are passed along link by link.

Every wealth-creating rally in A-shares has its own memes. From "Never sell even if I die", "China God Car", "Everything can be Moutai", to "Ning King", "Di King", and "China Special Valuation", now it's the turn of "Old Den Stocks", "Yi-Zhong-Tian", and "Standing in the Light".

The function of memes has never changed: they simplify the fundamentals and risk-reward ratios that should be deeply researched into a single judgment, quietly influencing countless people's investment decisions.

The surge of "Yi-Zhong-Tian" has lasted for over a year. The regrets belong not only to those who entered late but also to those who sold early after making just a few percentage points.

Veteran stock market players are used to ups and downs and have relatively calm mindsets, but when facing a market that doubles and doubles again, not everyone can hold on.

On Xueqiu, there is a post asking the big players heavily positioned in "Yi-Zhong-Tian" what their logic is for holding. There are thousands of comments in the comment section.

Besides serious analysis, some say it requires talent and is determined by genes; some say personality is more important; others say understanding human nature is more important than understanding the industry.

Someone also said, "Because they believe in the light, they have light in their eyes, and they have faith. But you have no light and don't believe in faith; you only trust your own logic, so you can't hold on."

When it comes to faith, Douyin blogger "Hajimi is a Little Madman" is not lacking. He went all-in at Xiaomi's high of over 40 yuan and is now down over 1.8 million yuan.

On June 2, he started moving most of his position into the light. He declared: "As soon as I break even, I'll close my account and leave." After riding the market rally for two days, Hajimi's eyes also began to have light.

On June 5, "Yi-Zhong-Tian" collectively dove. Zhongji Innolight plummeted nearly 8% in a single day. On June 11, Eoptolink approached the daily limit down during trading, and the CPO concept began to pull back. Those fleeing for the exits and those swarming to buy the dip completed their handover amidst astronomical trading volumes.

When the rally comes, those who can hold on are the minority; when trapped, those who can hold on become the majority.