DS Asset Management is rolling out an actively managed exchange-traded fund investing in artificial intelligence chipmakers and related infrastructure companies. It is the firm's second ETF, following its first product, the DS KOSDAQ Active ETF.
DS Asset Management plans to launch the DS AI Semiconductor Active ETF next month, according to the financial investment industry on the 20th. The product will invest more than 60% of its assets in stocks listed on Korea's KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets, building a portfolio of companies tied to the AI chip investment cycle, the related value chain and the expansion of infrastructure.
The core strategy is to flexibly adjust the weighting of integrated chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in line with semiconductor industry conditions and investment cycles. Investment targets also include memory chips such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), along with materials, components and equipment companies in front-end, back-end and testing processes. The fund aims to identify early on suppliers with differentiated technology or those expected to see earnings improve as the industry shifts.
The investment scope is not limited to chipmakers. The fund may also include infrastructure companies tied to servers, power grids, networks and AI systems as AI data centers expand. It will also use a rotation strategy, adjusting the weighting of market leaders in step with earnings announcements, supply-demand shifts from new listings, and technology and thematic trends.
Major AI chip active ETFs currently on the market have specified investment areas such as memory, non-memory and materials, components and equipment in their product names. DS Asset Management, by contrast, chose a strategy covering the AI chip industry as a whole without spelling out subsectors in the product name. The approach is seen as a way to flexibly adjust the investment scope, spanning memory and suppliers as well as AI infrastructure, depending on market conditions and technological change.
In the early stage after listing, SK hynix and Samsung Electronics will each carry the largest weighting at 15%, and the fund will also hold Isu Petasys, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and SK Square, along with chip suppliers such as Wonik IPS, HPSP, ISC, Hana Micron and Soulbrain.
DS Asset Management, regarded as a leading private fund manager in Korea, entered the ETF market for the first time in July with the launch of the DS KOSDAQ Active ETF. The DS KOSDAQ Active ETF returned 4.99% over the past month, from Aug. 19 to Sept. 18, outperforming its benchmark index by 5.86 percentage points.
