KoAct Global AI & Robot, Increasing AI Software Proportion to Achieve High Profitability Soaring

Samsung Active Asset Management announced on the 28th that the ‘KoAct Global AI & Robot Active’ ETF recorded a return of 51.9% just one year after its listing. This performance surpasses the U.S. S&P 500 return of 33.4% during the same period. It exceeded the benchmark index return of 32.4% by 19.5 percentage points (P). The return for the most recent one month reached 8.6%.

KoAct Global AI & Robot Active was the first active ETF listed domestically last November that invests not only in the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry but also in the robotics sector. Anticipating the long-term growth of the AI industry, which has been accelerated by the emergence of generative AI, the fund applies an investment strategy that focuses on AI infrastructure in the early stage of the industry, AI services and software during the growth phase, and AI robots in the maturity phase.

Breaking away from a simple thematic structure, this product targets the entire global AI industry and actively adjusts its portfolio according to each growth stage, making it suitable for long-term investment. The portfolio is constructed by tracking the ‘iSelect Global AI & Robot PR Index’ and additionally reflecting stocks carefully selected through Samsung Active Asset Management’s research.

The continuous high performance is attributed to the unique management strategy of adjusting weightings by growth stage, which led to an increased weighting of AI software since the second half of this year.

Yang Hee-chang, manager at Samsung Active Asset Management, said, "At the time of listing last year, we explained that the AI infrastructure construction phase would evolve stepwise into the AI services and software sector by 2025 and the AI robot market by 2027." He added, "In line with this outlook, the weighting of AI software was increased from about 40% at the initial listing to 58% starting from the second half of this year."

Representative companies whose weightings were increased in the second half include Tesla (autonomous driving), Palantir (AI data analytics), AppLovin (AI advertising), and Zillow (AI real estate). Their recent stock price rises contributed to the one-month return of 8.6%.

Investors increasingly expect AI software and service companies to outperform AI hardware companies such as AI semiconductor firms. Interest in the AI software sector is also expected to grow further. According to market research firm IDC, the global AI market size is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 29% between 2024 and 2028, reaching $632 billion (approximately 900 trillion KRW) by 2028. The AI software market is expected to lead this growth with a compound annual growth rate of 50.9% during the same period.

Samsung Active Asset Management is also focusing on robotics as a representative sector expected to experience rapid growth through the integration of AI technology. With the rapid evolution of humanoid robots driven by advancements in AI, the robotics sector is anticipated to become a major industry around 2027, prompting close monitoring of related companies’ movements.

Yang Hee-chang, manager at Samsung Active Asset Management, stated, "As AI learning phases advance, and AI inference demand from companies and governments expands, AI software companies are accelerating growth in quarterly sales and order backlogs." He added, "From next year, we expect the emergence of the next Nvidia among AI software companies." He continued, "The AI robot sector is expected to show significant growth around 2027," and added, "We plan to continuously increase the investment weighting in robotics over the long term."