The ChiNext Market provides an important platform for advancing the national strategy of independent innovation. It helps accelerate the transformation of the economic development model and galvanizes growth in emerging industries of strategic importance.

In August 1999, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council proposed the establishment of a hi-tech board. In August 2000, with the approval of the State Council, the CSRC decided that the SZSE would take on the task of preparing for a second-tier board. After ten years of exploration, China's second-tier market, ChiNext, was inaugurated in Shenzhen on  October 23, 2009.

In recent years, the ChiNext Market has maintained sound operations and exhibited distinctive sectoral features. A group of innovative enterprises has successfully raised funds through the capital market. Their exemplary and spillover effects have led to the creation of a national support system for SMEs. The ChiNext Market has promoted the allocation of social funds to innovative businesses and emerging industries.

On April 27, 2020, the 13th Meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform reviewed and approved the Overall Implementation Plan for SZSE ChiNext Market Reform and Pilot Registration-based IPO System and noted that implementing the ChiNext Market reform and the pilot registration system is important for deepening the capital market reform, improving the fundamental rules of the capital market, and enhancing the function of the capital market. On August 24, 2020, the first batch of enterprises were listed on the ChiNext Market under the registration-based IPO system.

In April 2026, the SZSE formally released the first set of supporting business rules for deepening ChiNext Market reform, marking another step forward in a new round of comprehensive capital market reforms.

As of September 2026, a total of 1,409 companies were listed on the ChiNext Market with a total market capitalization of RMB 17.8 trillion.