South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix has been one of the recent high-profile winners of the artificial intelligence (AI) buildout, and some global funds are betting on this to continue.

The supply crunch in memory chips, specifically high bandwidth memory (HBM), has helped SK Hynix shares rally 190% year-to-date and 855% over the past twelve months.

Yet despite accounting for almost a quarter of the Korean stock market, SK Hynix forms a much smaller portion of global indices as the 17^th largest holding, accounting for 0.62% of the MSCI ACWI Index, the widely used global equity benchmark.

Some global funds are betting that South Korea’s AI darling continues its run and would be up significantly on their initial investment assuming they sized up as recently as the beginning of the year.

Below, FSA highlights five actively managed global equity funds available for distribution in Hong Kong or Singapore that have the stock in their top 10 holdings, according to data compiled from FE fundinfo.

Capital Group – New Economy Fund

This $1.24bn fund has listed SK Hynix as its 5^th largest position at 3.8% of the portfolio. So far year-to-date the fund has delivered a 15% return compared to 9.5% from the MSCI ACWI index over the same period.

This fund looks for companies that can benefit from innovation, exploit new technologies or provide products and services that meet the demands of an evolving global economy.

It is managed by seven portfolio managers, supported by research analysts who are also allocated part of the fund assets to manage. Other top holdings include semiconductor firms TSMC, Broadcom and Micron Technology.

Carmignac – Portfolio Investissement

This $312m fund also has SK Hynix as its 5^th largest position at 3.7% of the portfolio. It posted a 9.9% return year-to-date, comfortably outperforming its peer group’s 5.8% return as well as the MSCI ACWI index.

Managed by Kristofer Barrett, the strategy takes an unconstrained approach to investing, with a focus on companies with secular growth driven by innovation, technology and a unique selling position.

The fund has a more concentrated portfolio, with top-10 holdings semiconductor giants TSMC comprising 8.9% of the portfolio, followed by Nvidia at 7.5% of the portfolio.

Liontrust – GF Global Dividend

This $6m fund has listed SK Hynix as its 8^th largest position at 3% of the portfolio. Year-to-date, it has returned 12.5%, also well ahead of its benchmark and peers.

The strategy is run by portfolio managers Storm Uru, Clare Pleydell-Bouverie and James O’Connor. It has a focus on finding companies that can innovate to grow dividends and capital.

Nvidia is the fund’s largest position at 4.6%, with GE Vernova, an energy equipment manufacturing company also benefitting from the AI boom, listed as another top position at 3.6%.

William Blair SICAV – Global Leaders Sustainability

This $71m fund is managed by Hugo Scott-Gall. SK Hynix is the fund’s 8^th largest position at 2.7% of the portfolio. It has returned 10.1% year-to-date ahead of both the benchmark and peer group.

The strategy invests in companies the team believes demonstrate consistent value creation, competitive dominance, and stand out for their management of resources, human capital, and stakeholder relationships.

Other top holdings include the likes of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company at 2.8% and consumer tech giant Apple at 2.7%.

Morgan Stanley INVF – Global Opportunity

This $12.5bn fund has SK Hynix is the 9^th largest holding in its portfolio at 3.28%. Unlike the four funds above, this strategy’s year-to-date performance has lagged, down 3% versus an 8% gain from the MSCI World index.

The portfolio is managed by Kristian Heugh, and is focused on finding companies believed to have sustainable competitive advantages that can be monetized through growth.

The fund’s largest position and biggest overweight is TSMC, at 7.91%. Another top holding is Dutch chip equipment firm ASML at 5.6%.