Reporter Chen Shan
In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) funds will surge and become one of the most profitable trends. However, in this optimal investment field, Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund ended up with a loss for the whole year.
Wind data shows that as of the end of 2025, among the 18 artificial intelligence themed funds in the market that have been established for more than one year, Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund has become the only fund to lose money during the year. Its Class A fund share net value growth rate is -4.15%, while the other 17 artificial intelligence themed funds have increased by more than 40% during the year, and the highest return during the year exceeds 100%.
When the AI market is in full swing, which step did this fund take wrongly and what did it miss?
Performance is at the bottom among similar funds
In 2025, the A-share artificial intelligence track will have a strong market. The CSI Science and Technology Innovation Entrepreneurship Artificial Intelligence Index rose by 103.09% throughout the year, the CSI Artificial Intelligence Theme Index rose by 67.39%, the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Board Artificial Intelligence Index and the CSI Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence 50 Index also achieved increases of 50.68% and 44.45% respectively.
At a time when sectors are collectively rising and market sentiment is rising, the performance of the Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund has aroused doubts among holders. Some investors said on the public platform: "Such a good track, a surprising fund" "Is this a 'fake' artificial intelligence fund?", pointing out that the fund has significantly deviated from the overall trend of the artificial intelligence sector.
According to the data, Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund was established in May 2016. Its individual stock investment strategy is to "select listed company stocks with huge growth potential and related to artificial intelligence themes to construct a stock investment portfolio", and the proportion of investment in securities related to artificial intelligence themes is not less than 80% of non-cash fund assets.
Wind data shows that the net value growth rate of Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund's Class A fund share in 2025 is -4.15%, underperforming the benchmark return rate of 12.55%, and ranking 2242nd among the 2274 flexible allocation funds in the market; in addition, the Class C fund share of this product has suffered a loss of 9.29% since its establishment on January 20, 2025.
Among the 18 artificial intelligence themed funds that have been established for one year, Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund is the only flexible allocation fund and the only artificial intelligence themed fund that will lose money in 2025. In stark contrast, artificial intelligence theme funds that passively track indexes lead the way, with returns exceeding 60% in most years. Among them, GEM Artificial Intelligence ETF Huabao tops the list with a return of 106%; among actively managed products, Baoying Artificial Intelligence Fund performs best with a return rate of 66%.
Looking at the long-term perspective, as of the end of 2025, the total return of the Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund since its establishment more than nine years ago was 43.01%, and the returns in the past five years and the past three years were -34.94% and -12.42%, both ranking in the bottom 10% of similar funds.
It is worth mentioning that the fund has been managed by star fund manager Qu Yang since its establishment, and Wei Chun joined in March 2021 for joint management. Qu Yang joined Qianhai Kaiyuan Fund in July 2014 and currently serves as the company’s deputy general manager, chairman of the equity investment decision-making committee, and fund manager. From 2019 to 2020, Qu Yang has achieved outstanding investment performance with his accurate judgment on the consumer, pharmaceutical, and new energy tracks. He is known as the "all-rounder" and the "timing king." At its peak in 2021, his management scale exceeded 60 billion yuan, making him one of the "top" fund managers that the market has attracted attention from.
But under the halo, the problem of the boundaries of its capabilities gradually emerged. According to industry analysts, Qu Yang’s circle of competence has always been concentrated in the leading fields of consumption, medicine and Hong Kong stocks. As far as the AI track is concerned, his layout does not seem to be in-depth and proficient enough.
On June 3, 2025, Qu Yang resigned from the Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund due to "internal adjustments", and the fund was managed solely by Wei Chun. During Qu Yang’s nine years of managing the Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund, his total return during his tenure was 13.43%, with an annualized return of only 1.4%, underperforming the performance benchmark by more than 18 percentage points. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, its public offering scale under management has dropped to about 15 billion yuan, a 75% decrease from its peak.
Chasing reasons for falling against the market trend
Encountering a performance "Waterloo" in the strongest track, the reason why Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund bucked the market and closed down was hidden in its "untimely" position and share swap actions.
According to the three quarterly reports released by the Qianhai Open Source Artificial Intelligence Fund in 2025, the fund continues to focus on stocks in electronics, communications and other fields with end-side AI as the main line. However, the market conditions throughout the year were dominated by AI computing infrastructure, such as chips and optical modules.
In comparison, the Baoying Artificial Intelligence Fund, which performed better in 2025, has adopted a more balanced allocation strategy. Its heavy holdings in companies such as Haiguang Information, Huahong Semiconductor, Kuaishou-W, Montage Technology, Shanghai Electronics Co., Ltd., and Zhongji InnoLight cover multiple key links from AI computing power infrastructure to the application layer, and better grasp the market rotation throughout the year.
In addition to missing the layout opportunity of big AI stocks, Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund’s position changes and timing errors are more prominent.
In the second quarter of 2025, the Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund carried out a large-scale stock exchange. Six of the top ten heavy holdings were replaced, and the other four heavy holdings were increased to varying degrees. Most of the company's businesses belong to the SoC chip, end-side storage, consumer electronics and other sectors of end-side AI. However, while exchanging shares and increasing positions, most related stocks experienced a sharp decline in the second quarter.
Specifically, the fund increased its positions in Rockchip and Aojie Technology-U in the second quarter of 2025. The number of positions increased by 43.58% and 39.16% respectively compared with the end of the first quarter. At the same time, it also increased its positions in VeriSilicon and Zhongke Lanxun by 17.13% and 2.58%. In addition, Espressif Technology, Quanzhi Technology, GigaDevice, Canqin Technology, Jiehuat, and Goertek replaced Hengxuan Technology, Weichi Technology, Quectel Communications, Lens Technology, Haiguang Information, and Farsoon High-Tech to enter the top ten holdings of the fund.
However, the four stocks in which the fund added positions in the second quarter all fell sharply. Rockchip and VeriSilicon, the top two largest stocks, fell 12.37% and 8.96% in a single quarter. Aojie Technology-U and Zhongke Lanxun were the seventh and second largest stocks. The top ten heavyweight stocks fell by more than 20%; and half of the six new heavyweight stocks also fell: Espressif Technology, Allwinner Technology, and Goertek fell by -10.88%, -1.92%, and -10.15%, respectively.
After intensive positions and share swaps, the net value of Qianhai Kaiyuan Artificial Intelligence Fund fell by 18.2% in the second quarter.
Entering the third quarter of 2025, Qianhai Open Source Artificial Intelligence Fund has further strengthened its end-side AI layout. Hengxuan Technology and Amlogic Technology, two core end-side AI companies, have replaced Canqin Technology and Jiehuat among the top ten holdings. Although the net value of the fund's Class A shares surged 39% in the third quarter, raising the overall return in the first three quarters to 10%, its related heavyweight stocks generally suffered heavy losses in the fourth quarter, ultimately dragging down the full-year performance to turn negative again. Judging from the fund's top ten heavy holdings in the third quarter, these stocks generally fell in the fourth quarter. Among them, the share prices of seven heavy holdings, including Goertek, Rockchip, and VeriSilicon, all fell by more than 20% in the fourth quarter.
In fact, these end-side AI target companies that are heavily invested by Qianhai Open Source Artificial Intelligence Fund have almost all achieved positive stock price growth in 2025. Among them, VeriSilicon and GigaDevice even doubled their stock prices. Behind the fund's full-year losses in 2025, the problem lies not only in the choice of the device-side AI segment, but also in the concentrated buying and switching at the wrong time.
Regarding investment opportunities in the field of artificial intelligence in 2026, Wei Chun, manager of Qianhai Open Source Artificial Intelligence Fund, shared his latest views with reporters. She believes that the world is currently in the midst of an artificial intelligence industry revolution, and AI computing power is the core driving force for this round of AI industry development. AI infrastructure construction is expected to continue to grow strongly in 2026.
Wei Chun predicts that AI hardware will also enter a period of rapid growth in 2026. "With the rapid iteration of the AI large model industry, the rapid development of scenarios such as human-computer voice interaction and the huge improvement in user experience will further generate demand for AI terminals in the future. It is expected that domestic and overseas companies will launch a number of AI hardware products in 2026, such as AI mobile phones, AIPCs and AI glasses," she analyzed.
