Samsung Asset Management's global semiconductor fund tops 1 trillion won with 200% annual return

Samsung Asset Management announced Monday that its Samsung Global Semiconductor Fund has surpassed 1 trillion won (about $651 million) in net assets.

The milestone came roughly four years and nine months after the fund's initial launch in September 2021. As of June 19, net assets stood at 1.0599 trillion won.

The fund's one-year return reached 200.4% for the currency-hedged Class A share and 229.7% for the unhedged share — more than five times the Nasdaq 100 index's gain of 40.0% over the same period.

Notably, the fund also outperformed the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which rose 173.1% over the same stretch, by 27.3 percentage points.

A portfolio centered on market-leading stocks and a flexible management strategy that adapts to shifting market conditions were key to the strong results.

The fund invests in global AI semiconductor companies, currently one of the most closely watched themes in the market. It focuses particularly on the top 20 chipmakers worldwide by semiconductor sales, selecting those 20 names based on semiconductor-related revenue in the most recent fiscal year and weighting them by market capitalization.

This approach allows the fund to spread investments not only across US chipmakers but also core players in the global semiconductor value chain, including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and TSMC.

A significant portion of recent gains came from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Samsung Electronics' share price surged 195.2% from the start of this year through June 19, while SK Hynix soared 324.5%, as a structural supply shortage in the memory chip market continued to drive both stocks sharply higher.

Beyond the top market leaders, the Samsung Global Semiconductor Fund also monitors fast-growing companies. It selects around 10 additional holdings by weighing quantitative metrics such as earnings growth rate and return on equity alongside broader market conditions, and rebalances the portfolio on a rolling basis.

"Semiconductors are the most critical beneficiary industry in the AI investment cycle running from agentic AI through to physical AI," said Seo Min-ung, a fund manager at Samsung Asset Management. "Investing evenly across semiconductor companies not just in the United States but also in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and around the world is the most efficient way to capture the fruits of the semiconductor industry's growth."