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China fund managers keep favoring AI and chips after July sell-off
In a Bank of America survey of 98 fund managers, 73.0% of China respondents named AI and chips as a top theme in August, even as 59.0% of Asia managers said they were hedging AI-linked declines.
China fund managers continued to favor artificial intelligence and chips as a top investment theme in August, even after a July sell-off that hit global semiconductor shares, according to a survey by Bank of America Global Research. In the August edition of the Asia Fund Manager Survey, Bank of America researchers polled 98 participants across the region from August 7 to 13, representing US$272 billion in assets under management. In China specifically, 73.0% of surveyed fund managers picked AI and chips as one of their two favorite themes, up from 60.0% in July and 50.0% in June. The survey also pointed to a shift toward more defensive positioning. Stocks featuring share buybacks or dividend payments ranked as the second most popular theme among China managers, with 27.0% selecting them, compared with 16.0% in July, while 59.0% of surveyed fund managers across Asia said they were hedging against the risk of a decline in AI-related stocks. The backdrop was a sharp drop in semiconductor sentiment during July, driven by worries about potential disappointment in AI monetization. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell about 21.0% in July, its worst monthly performance since October 2008, and in Hong Kong GigaDevice Semiconductor shares dropped from HK$1,188 (US$151) to HK$459 over the same period.