BofA Survey: China Fund Managers' AI Chip Preference Rises to 73% in August
Nashnova编辑部
Bank of America's August Asia fund-manager survey shows 73% of China respondents ranked AI and chips as a top theme — a third straight monthly rise — yet 59% of Asian managers are now hedging AI-stock downside, doubling from the prior month.
What does 73% mean, and why three months of gains?
June 50% → July 60% → August 73%: China fund managers' preference for AI and chips climbed for a third consecutive month.
This means → even after July's global semiconductor sell-off, Chinese institutional conviction in AI chips strengthened, not weakened.
The survey ran August 7–13, covering 98 Asia-based fund managers with combined AUM of $272 billion.
How bad was the July chip sell-off?
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell roughly 21% in July — its worst month since October 2008.
In Hong Kong, GigaDevice Semiconductor (兆易创新) dropped from HK$1,188 in early July to HK$459, losing more than half its value.
In plain terms = markets feared AI's "monetisation story" would not deliver, so they dumped chip stocks first.
Beyond AI chips, what else are China managers buying?
Dividend-paying or buyback stocks became the second-favourite theme, jumping from 16% in July to 27% in August.
This means → while betting on AI, managers shifted part of their allocation toward more defensive, high-dividend names.
In plain terms = one hand on offence, one on defence — capital is not blindly bullish.
How many managers are hedging AI downside?
59% of Asian fund managers surveyed said they are hedging AI-stock downside risk — more than double the prior month.
This reflects a rare state: conviction and risk-hedging are intensifying in parallel.
In plain terms = managers are not uniformly bullish — they are buying and buying insurance at the same time, and internal disagreement may be building.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.