search menu Home > Sanlam Investments > Our fund range EQUITIES Sanlam Artificial Intelligence Fund Designed to provide long-term capital growth through diversified exposure to one of the global economy’s most important and enduring investment themes – artificial intelligence (AI). Artificial intelligence (AI) is driving change across the global economy. The influence of AI is set to permeate every sector worldwide as its reach continues to accelerate and broaden, creating compelling investment opportunities. Recent years have seen a massive cost compression in the generation, storage, transfer and use of data, facilitating better-informed business, consumer, and investment decisions. As AI-enabling technologies become cheaper and easier to access, more and more companies are engaging with AI, transforming their business models, and increasing their competitive advantage. The Sanlam Artificial Intelligence Fund seeks to identify companies whose engagement with AI is likely to make a material difference to their long-term economic value. In a large and growing investment universe of approximately 20,000 names, detailed bottom-up research and analysis is supported at the initial screening stage by a proprietary AI platform that helps to identify possible companies whose future economic value might be directly influenced by AI. As more companies harness AI technology, the opportunity set continues to extend and deepen, perpetually raising the bar for inclusion in the portfolio. Sections: 5 reasons to invest Philosophy ESG Investment process Fund commentary Related articles Fund literature Factsheet KIIDs Regulatory Fund information Meet the growth equities team Chris Ford Fund Manager View profile Tim Day Fund Manager View profile Giles Worthington Fund Manager View profile Why invest in the fund? 5 reasons to invest Fund philosophy ESG Investment process Pioneers of this transformational investment theme of long duration AI can facilitate solutions to enduring economic, social and environmental problems Not a tech fund - Investment across a wide range of sectors & regions The combination of using AI to identify opportunities and the Fund Managers’ experience gives us a competitive edge We aim to provide exposure to growth and greater resilience than a narrowly focused theme such as automation or robotics. AI will permeate almost all areas of the global economy. Chris Ford, Fund Manager Fund Commentary Monthly Commentary Quarterly Update October 2021 Market/macro backdrop Global equity markets rallied in October as they were buoyed by a positive start to the third quarter US earnings season and hopes that the problems in China’s property sector could be contained. Stylistically, growth outperformed value over the month, leaving the two broadly neck and neck in US dollar terms for 2021 to date.[1] For the month, the MSCI World index produced a performance of 4.0% in GBP terms (5.7% in USD). Regionally, emerging markets underperformed developed markets as Latin America had another difficult month while in developed markets the US was the standout performer. For the year to date, the S&P 500 is now up 24.0% in local currency terms.[2] Performance vs sector/benchmark The Fund produced a performance of 4.1% in October (source: Morningstar – GBP Z Acc share class). The Fund is not managed against a benchmark or specific sector index. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. Total return, NAV to NAV basis, net of charges, assumes net income reinvested. Positive and negative contributors Positive contributors: Tesla, Alphabet, UnitedHealth Negative contributors: MercadoLibre, Zendesk, FANUC Significant portfolio changes - buy/sells During the month we started rebuilding a position in Coupa Software, a leader in business spending management. Its cloud-based platform enables companies to manage all their transactions across procurements, payments and the supply chain. Clients include Sanofi, Pearson, Salesforce and Barclays. Corporate/team highlights We are pleased to report the Fund has continued to attract inflows and by early November assets under management stood at £970m.[1] [1] Source: Morningstar, 2 November 2021. Outlook Whilst markets are currently digesting the impact of higher ‘risk free’ bond yields, stubborn inflation and the announcement of the Fed’s taper, we think it is worth taking a step back and assessing some of the themes that could play out over the next few years. A recent report[1] for the World Economic Forum by McKinsey suggests that the next ten years will see more innovation and technological change than was observed in the preceding 100 years. Key cross-sector or ‘industry agnostic’ trends include next level process automation (important given ongoing labour shortages in the developed world), connectivity, distributed infrastructure, next generation computing (including quantum computing), applied AI (e.g. computer vision, natural language processing, speech technology), and a reboot of software programming (which McKinsey labels as ‘Software 2.0’ and which could see a 30x reduction in the time required to develop software and analytics). Industry-specific themes include the bio revolution (e.g. biomachines, biocomputing), next-generation materials (e.g. nanomaterials, graphene) and clean energy generation technologies as the world tries to mitigate the climate crisis. We will discuss the opportunities presented by these themes in the coming months. [1] The Top Trends in Technology, McKinsey, October 2021. Explore the details Designed to provide long-term capital growth through diversified exposure to one of the global economy’s most important and enduring investment themes – artificial intelligence (AI). Read the latest factsheet Related articles INSIGHTS 27 July 2021 AI - Investing in the future Early adoption of artificial intelligence in your portfolio could benefit from an investment theme that's transforming life as we know it. Chris Ford explains. VIDEO 20 July 2021 Sanlam Artificial Intelligence Fund - A unique investment process Only by doing things differently can one truly yield different results. The Sanlam Artificial Intelligence Fund uses a unique, proprietary AI platform to identify suitable companies. Chris Ford, fund manager, explains this process and how it’s used to seek out true alpha. INSIGHTS 14 July 2021 AI: changing the face of online retail An increasing proportion of retailers are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen their long-term business models, from forecasting customer demand and managing stock to automating deliveries and returns. Although Covid-19 accelerated the evolution in consumers’ approach to shopping, AI is driving the long-term revolution in how those shops are run. Read all Fund Risks Past performance is not a guide to future performance. Do remember that the value of an investment and the income generated from them can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed, therefore, you may not get back the amount originally invested and potentially risk total loss of capital. A table with five years’ performance is available in the fund factsheets. The Fund may invest in shares of companies listed on stock exchanges in the United Kingdom, and outside the United Kingdom, exchange rate fluctuations may cause the value of investments to go down as well as up. Investing in companies based in emerging markets may involve additional risks due to greater political, economic, regulatory risks, among other factors. The Fund may invest in derivatives for the purposes of efficient portfolio management and hedging. Ready to invest? Contact us Create a downloadable brochure You can use these buttons to add a page, edit, or print your own brochure Add to brochure Add to brochure Brochure 0 Print Share Contact Us Terms of Use Website Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement Accessibility Legal and Regulatory Sitemap © Sanlam. All rights reserved. Sanlam UK Limited is the provider of the Sanlam website. 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