Daol Asset Management Launches 'Daol Korea AI Tech Small and Mid-Cap Fund'

Daol Asset Management announced on the 30th that it will launch an equity product, the ‘Daol Korea AI Tech Small and Mid-Cap Fund,’ which focuses on investing intensively in AI-beneficiary small and mid-cap stocks amid the global AI investment boom.

This product is a rebranded and relaunched version of the existing ‘Daol Little Big Star Securities Investment Trust [Equity].’ The investment focus has shifted from a portfolio mainly consisting of high-quality small and mid-cap stocks to a portfolio of domestic small and mid-cap stocks expected to benefit from the AI era.

In Korea, while large semiconductor manufacturers such as SK Hynix remain highly attractive investment targets, there are also numerous competitive small and strong companies with irreplaceable strengths within the global AI value chain, such as HBM testing, semiconductor cleaning equipment, and on-device AI. Considering their growth potential, it is deemed advantageous to approach investment from a small and mid-cap stock-centered perspective.

As a differentiated strategy, the fund plans to maximize investment returns by changing the investment portfolio according to the investment timing. At the current early stage of AI, investments will focus on high-performance semiconductors, IT hardware, software, and gaming sectors, while in the future, as AI technology expands, the portfolio scope will be broadened to include healthcare, telecommunications, and general consumer goods.

Wim Minbok, fund manager at Daol Asset Management, explained, “Although AI companies centered around U.S. big tech firms such as Microsoft and Nvidia are receiving attention, we believe Korean companies also have very high growth potential.” He added, “Korea is a semiconductor powerhouse at the core of AI tech, producing over 90% of HBM used in GPUs, and possesses an independent IT ecosystem based on local data, including search engines and data centers, so AI demand within the Korean market is expected to arise independently.”

Manager Wim Minbok gained recognized expertise in semiconductor and AI industries while working at SK Hynix’s IR and M&A teams and later as a semiconductor sector analyst at Daishin Securities Research Center.

The Daol Korea AI Tech Small and Mid-Cap Fund is currently available for subscription through 23 distributors, including Daol Investment & Securities, Daishin Securities, Mirae Asset Securities, Shinhan Investment Corp., Korea Investment & Securities, KB Securities, and NH Investment & Securities.