(本文选自《经济学人》20200801期)
背景介绍：
2019年6月13日，被称为中国版纳斯达克的上海证券交易所科创板正式开板。2019年7月22日，首批25家公司在科创板上市。科创板从无到有、从纸上蓝图到正式开市，在制度规则等各方面都实现了新的突破，有力推动中国资本市场发展迈上新台阶。
Why China’s answer to Nasdaq is going gangbusters
To see the world of technology shift before your eyes, look at the short history of the Shanghai Stock Exchange Science and Technology Innovation Board. China’s president, Xi Jinping, unveiled plans for the new exchange, modelled on New York’s Nasdaq and known as the STAR Market, in November 2018.
想要亲眼见识世界科技的日新月异，就先看看上海证券交易所科技创新板块的短暂历史吧。2018年，中国发布了关于设立一个新版块的计划，该板块以纽约纳斯达克为蓝本，被称为科创板。对于中国科技公司来说，科创板将成为它们进入资本市场更自由的一条途径。
It was to be a freer route to capital markets for Chinese tech firms. It opened in July 2019 with 25 companies and rocketing valuations. A year later, on July 23rd, the exchange launched an index of its 50 biggest companies.
科创板于2019年7月开板，首批上市了25家公司，估值一路飙升。一年后的7月23日，科创板推出了一项由市值最大的50家公司构成的指数（科创板50指数）。
A few months ago most people had never heard of the STAR Market or its firms. The most valuable was AMEC, a low-key Chinese manufacturer of chipmaking tools with a market capitalisation of around 100bn yuan ($14bn). Other big members, which make semiconductors (Montage Technology), office software (Kingsoft) or railway electronics (China Railway Signal & Communication), were mostly
anonymous
to Western ears.
就在几个月前，许多人还从未听说过科创板或在科创板上市的公司。其中最具价值的是中微半导体（一家低调的中国芯片制造设备制造商），市值约为1000亿元人民币（约合140亿美元）。但就诸如半导体公司（澜起科技）办公软件公司（金山软件）和铁路电子公司（中国通号）之类的一些大公司，西方人大多少有耳闻。
That all changed in July. First, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) listed its shares on the board, raising $6.5bn from the offering. A week later Ant Group, the payments arm of Alibaba, China’s e-commerce titan, said it would also list shares there (as well as in Hong Kong).
但这一切都在今年7月发生了改变。先是中芯国际在科创板上市，募集了65亿美元的资金。一周后，中国电子商务巨头阿里巴巴的支付业子公司蚂蚁集团表示，该公司也将在科创板上市（同时还将在香港上市）。
Ant may be the most valuable private company on Earth, valued at $150bn or so. That flotation alone could push the STAR Market past the Nasdaq as the world’s top
venue
for tech capital-raising this year. And Ant isn’t alone.
蚂蚁金服可能是全球最具价值的私营企业，其估值约为1500亿美元。仅是蚂蚁金服的上市可能就将推动科创板超越纳斯达克，成为今年全球最大的科技行业资金募集之地。但在科创板上市的不仅仅是蚂蚁金服。
Geely, a big Chinese carmaker; the fintech arm of JD.com, an online retailer; Imagination Technologies, a British chip designer with Chinese investors: all are reportedly mulling listings. The bourse already hosts 141 firms. Another 409 are in the process of registering.
据报道称，吉利汽车（中国大型汽车制造商）、京东数科（在线零售商京东的金融科技部门）以及 ImaginationTechnologies（具有中国投资者背景的英国芯片设计公司）均计划在科创板上市。目前，已有141家公司在科创板上市，另有409家公司正在注册中。
The STAR Market’s most
eye-popping
valuations are for companies whose products are central to the Chinese government’s desire for an independent domestic semiconductor industry. Shares of SMIC and AMEC, for instance, trade at 200 and 500 times earnings. The average price-to-earnings ratio of STAR 50 firms is a juicy 71, compared with 52 for Nasdaq.
科创板中估值最高的公司正是那些在中国建立独立本土半导体行业愿景中处于核心地位的公司。例如，中芯国际和中微半导体的市盈率分别为200和500。科创板50指数中的公司的平均市盈率为71，而纳斯达克为52。
By all technical accounts that looks rich. Experts consider SMIC and AMEC to be behind
cutting-edge
Western rivals. So how did the STAR Market come from nowhere to become the world’s largest money pile for tech in just a year?
从技术角度来看，这些在科创板上市的公司资金充裕。但专家认为，中芯国际和中微半导体仍落后于西方前沿的竞争对手。那么，科创板是如何在短短一年的时间里从默默无闻变成全球最大的科技产业资金募集之地的呢？
The short answer is the
tussle
for technological and economic supremacy between America and China. SMIC delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last year,
ostensibly
for administrative reasons—but looming American legislation that could bar Chinese companies from American exchanges may well have weighed on its decision, too.
简而言之，这是中美两国在技术和经济上相互竞争的结果。去年，中芯国际从纽约证券交易所退市，表面上是出于行政方面的原因，但实际起到决定性作用的因素可能是美国或将出台禁止中国公司进入美国证券交易所的法案。
An investment in the likes of SMIC or AMEC is, in other words, a wager that Beijing’s ambition of semiconductor independence is realistic—and that the Communist Party will not allow its champions to fail, even if they could not match high-end global competition. Judging by the STAR 50 index, up by nearly 50% so far this year, plenty of investors like those odds.
换言之，投资中芯国际或中微半导体之类的公司就像是在打赌一样，赌中国能够实现半导体行业独立的雄心，就算无法与全球顶尖的竞争对手相抗衡，但中国也绝不会让其领军企业倒闭。从今年科创板50指数迄今已达近50%的涨幅来看，许多投资者都押下了赌注。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
本文翻译：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
编辑：Vinnie
今年7月，在科创板开板一周年到来之际，全球最大的私营企业蚂蚁金服宣布即将在科创板上市。除此之外，包括吉利汽车、京东数科、Imagination Technologies 都宣称拟在科创板上市。而随着这些重量级公司的上市，科创板或将超越纳斯达克，成为全球最大的科技行业资金募集之地。
重难点词汇：
anonymous
[əˈnɑːnɪməs] adj. 匿名的；
无个性特征的
venue
[ˈvenjuː] n. 地点；
场所；
会场
eye-popping
[ˈaɪ pɑːpɪŋ] adj. 使人瞠目的；
惊人的
cutting-edge
[ˌkʌtɪŋ ˈedʒ] adj. 领先的；
