Samsung Active Asset Management's KoAct US NASDAQ Growth Companies Active tops 1-month ETF returns

Samsung Active Asset Management announced Tuesday that its KoAct US NASDAQ Growth Companies Active ETF posted a one-month return of 10.96%, ranking first among exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the NASDAQ index.

The fund's year-to-date return stands at 40.39% and its one-year return at 48.11%, both tops in its category. Those figures represent substantial outperformance against the NASDAQ index, which returned 1.6% over one month, 7.44% year-to-date and 13.92% over one year during the same period.

Retail investor inflows have continued. Cumulative net purchases by retail investors since the start of the year have reached 325.1 billion won ($239 million).

The fund's strong outperformance is attributed to its agile incorporation of shifts in the global macroeconomic environment and the AI industry into its portfolio. Major holdings in the KoAct US NASDAQ Growth Companies Active ETF include Palantir (7.99%), SanDisk (5.85%) and Snowflake (4.94%).

A barbell strategy that simultaneously added AI central processing unit (CPU)-related companies — Intel (4.03%), AMD (3.66%) and ARM (2.18%) — also paid off. These firms have emerged as a new bottleneck as the rise of AI agents has driven explosive growth in CPU demand, with the number of CPUs required per GPU increasing roughly eightfold in AI agent workflows.

"High macroeconomic uncertainty may limit the overall upside for equities, but some beneficiary shares tied to AI agent inference demand are expected to rise more sharply," said Yang Hee-chang, a fund manager at Samsung Active Asset Management. "With Meta's launch of Muse accelerating the rapid expansion of the AI agent market, demand for AI infrastructure and AI software is forecast to far exceed market expectations."

Another fund managed by Samsung Active Asset Management, the KoAct US NASDAQ Bond Mixed 50 Active ETF, has also delivered a strong year-to-date return of 29.0%. The product pairs an aggressive US equity investment strategy with a defensive bond portfolio, making it a useful vehicle for investors looking to increase their NASDAQ exposure within pension accounts.