CITIC Securities: The payment clearing layer and the foundational model layer have strong investment certainty

CITIC Securities research reports indicate that 2026 will be a critical window for Agent Commerce to move from concept validation to protocol-based, standardized, and scaled implementation. Agent Commerce is not just a partial upgrade of traditional e-commerce functions, but an important infrastructural transformation of the consumer internet in the AI era. AI Agents are beginning to undertake full-chain transaction functions such as demand understanding, product screening, price comparison, order placement, and payment, with the business operation logic accelerating from “people searching for goods” to “demand delivery.” From an industry chain perspective, the payment and clearing layer and the foundational model layer have strong investment certainty, while the platform/access layer and toolchain layer offer broad development flexibility. Our recommended ranking is: 1. Platform companies that combine models and ecosystems; 2. Providers of large model capabilities; 3. Payment and transaction infrastructure; 4. Platforms with ecosystem capabilities that are expected to strengthen model capabilities and improve Agent Commerce deployment; 5. Toolchain service providers.