(Yicai Global) Oct. 24 -- China's first exchange-traded fund that targets the biggest Chinese and South Korean chipmakers has started inviting subscribers to place their orders.

Huatai-PineBridge Fund Management's ETF, which tracks the CSI KRX China-Korea Semiconductor Index, is open for subscription till Oct. 28 to provide mainland investors with opportunities overseas, Yicai Global learned.

The CSI KRX China-Korea Semiconductor Index reflects the performance of shares of leading Chinese and South Korean semiconductor vendors, including Samsung Electronics and Semiconductor Manufacturing International.

The 30 index constituents had a total market cap of over CNY3 trillion (USD413.5 billion) as of Oct. 21, according to Wind data. Some 18 of the biggest participants, including SMIC and Unigroup Guoxin Microelectronics, each had a market cap exceeding CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion).

Chip manufacturing is one of the industries that South Korea is good at, an employee at the Shanghai-based fund manager said to Yicai Global. Huatai-PineBridge is filling the gap as there were no South Korea-themed ETFs before, the person added.

The fund insider is optimistic about the development of Chinese and South Korean semiconductor stocks. After slumps earlier this year, there is a potential momentum for growth stock recovery amid a sustained strengthening of the US Dollar Index, the source said.

China's mainland is hosting an increasing number of stock ETFs as fund managers have been seeking to cater to clients' diversified needs in recent years. As of Oct. 21, the market had 603 stock ETFs, tracking 280 onshore and offshore indexes, according to Wind data. The mainland ETFs' valuations tallied CNY940.7 billion (USD129.6 billion) in total.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi