When fund managers and analysts from the domestic A-share market begin appearing at AI chip exhibits at the CES show in Las Vegas, data centers of cloud providers in Silicon Valley, and semiconductor equipment factories in South Korea, a new industry phenomenon is quietly emerging.
What was once an occasional overseas research trip has increasingly become a regular activity for investment research professionals at numerous public fund houses in recent years. Some travel to the United States to attend the GTC conference; others journey through Southeast Asian countries to conduct on-site investigations into the real progress of Chinese supply chain spillover; and still, others include visits to semiconductor equipment factories in Japan and South Korea in their annual itinerary.
This wave reflects fund managers' close attention and deep insight into global AI industry trends. As overseas research shifts from an "optional extra" to a "necessity," China's asset management industry is also transitioning from a "localized investment research" approach to one with a "global perspective."
Overseas Research Trips Quietly Intensify
The frequency of trips has increased, and their geographical scope has expanded. Every new development in the AI industry chain, from optical modules to servers, and from computing power chips to application software, has become a focal point for A-share capital this year. However, the source of this current industry trend lies across the ocean. The pace of computing power build-up in Silicon Valley and the capital expenditure cycles of overseas cloud providers directly influence order expectations and stock price performance for related domestic companies. It is precisely this industry logic of cross-border transmission that is compelling more and more fund managers and analysts to go abroad for research.
Several interviewed fund industry professionals admitted that the frequency of overseas research trips has increased significantly this year. A fund manager primarily focused on the technology sector revealed that he has already arranged research trips to Japan and South Korea for the first half of the year, with a frequency of one trip per quarter. Another analyst stated that he traveled to the United States this year to attend the 2026 CES and GTC conferences, with the main purpose being to follow AI industry progress. This includes researching the procurement pace of North American cloud providers for hardware like optical modules and servers, which directly relates to the order sustainability of leading domestic optical module companies, and observing the progress of AI application deployment, from the model layer to the application layer, to judge when inference demand might take over from training demand.
Another fund manager also mentioned that he just concluded a week-long overseas research trip, which primarily focused on the AI direction, covering the entire semiconductor industry chain.
More notably, the composition of personnel conducting overseas research from fund companies has undergone significant changes this year. What was previously mainly undertaken by international business departments is now increasingly appearing on the schedules of A-share fund managers. The aforementioned fund manager noted that in the past, A-share fund managers almost never went on overseas research trips, but the frequency has noticeably increased this year. "Many top-performing A-share fund managers now conduct at least one overseas research trip per year."
Alongside the increase in frequency, research destinations have also become more diverse. For instance, some fund managers go to Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, mainly to observe the progress of Chinese supply chain spillover and localization. Others travel to Japan to research semiconductor equipment and materials, as well as precision manufacturing and the automotive industry chain.
The equity investment research team at Tianhong Fund disclosed that they have conducted research trips to Europe and Vietnam this year. It is understood that Morgan Asset Management routinely conducts on-site overseas research and shares frontline insights from its global investment research team. The group also actively organizes on-site exchange events in China with overseas companies, combining "going out for research" with "bringing insights in."
From the perspective of Morgan Asset Management, attention on Asian markets has risen significantly this year, with research interest in Japan and South Korea increasing substantially. This is driven by two factors: first, Asian markets, by being deeply embedded in the global AI supply chain (especially in semiconductors and high-end manufacturing), are facing unique development opportunities; second, overall valuations in Asian stock markets are at relatively low levels, coupled with continuous improvements in corporate dividend policies and governance standards within the region, making the "value for money" of Asian markets more prominent.
On-the-Ground Insights
The experience and insights gained are different. Online materials and third-party data provide the "skeleton," while on-site research provides the "flesh, blood, and nerve endings." This comment from an investment research professional highlights the value of overseas research: on-the-ground overseas research can break through information barriers and access core industry information that is difficult to obtain domestically.
"On-site visits allow you to obtain the underlying core principles, the frontline development status, and sense the market temperature. This kind of information is often impossible to convey through online sharing. The reason is that many topics overseas involve national security concerns, making it impossible to share essential information online," a research professional stated directly.
He further explained that although many securities firms are also conducting overseas research and provide timely feedback to fund companies, sell-side analysts cannot present information to fund managers through an investment logic lens, nor can they fully convey the experts' core underlying principles. Therefore, fund managers must conduct research themselves to form forward-looking judgments.
The equity investment research team at Tianhong Fund also noted that through face-to-face, in-depth exchanges, they can better understand local institutions' views on their domestic industries and markets. This helps in more comprehensively grasping how various investor behaviors impact sector trends, thereby better seizing market opportunities.
Another research professional confirmed that online information can inevitably be lagging or relatively one-sided. The core value of on-site visits lies in breaking down "information asymmetry" and "data lag," obtaining non-standardized, implicit, and forward-looking first-hand information.
He shared an example: he once visited a Chinese-owned factory in Southeast Asia where financial reports showed an 85% capacity utilization rate. However, on-site observation revealed two full production shifts and extremely fast warehouse turnover. Two months later, when the quarterly report was released, the capacity utilization rate was revised to over 95%. This fully demonstrates that on-site research provides a time window for adjusting portfolios in advance, and this time window is a crucial source of generating excess returns.
More importantly, overseas on-site research provides access to more "key individuals" and industry dynamics. The aforementioned technology-focused fund manager shared that during overseas research trips, they often encounter senior management personnel from large domestic internet companies, individuals who would be nearly impossible to meet within China. Therefore, overseas research not only helps in judging overseas industry development trends but also directly aids in understanding the strategic moves and capital expenditure attitudes of major domestic companies.
Furthermore, on-site research helps investment research teams rationally discern differences between Chinese and foreign industries, discarding market stereotypes. "Our research found that overseas markets may not be as good as they sound, but they are also not as bad as pessimists claim. The value of on-site research lies precisely in helping you distinguish which differences are temporary and can be offset by the efficiency advantages of Chinese companies, and which differences are structural, requiring you to use a completely different framework for valuation."
Industry Enters a New Globalized Phase
Overseas research transitions from "optional" to "essential." In the view of industry insiders, the normalization of fund managers' overseas research trips is not a passing fad but an inevitable outcome of adapting to global industry transformation and the upgrading of fund investment research.
"AI is a massive industry trend primarily led overseas. The normalization of overseas research will drive the domestic asset management industry to become more internationalized, broadening the global perspective of fund managers. Relying solely on A-share thinking is insufficient for trading A-shares well because the current AI industry trend is driven overseas. Without understanding overseas industry dynamics, it's difficult to excel in A-share investment," stated the aforementioned technology-focused fund manager.
Other industry professionals added that the normalization of fund managers' overseas research is not only a tactical adjustment by the asset management industry to meet the demand for global asset allocation but also a significant trend in the transformation of China's asset management industry from "localized operation" to "globalized investment research." The rigid demand for global residents to diversify their asset allocations is increasing. Normalized overseas research is expected to improve decision-making quality, broaden global investment horizons, uncover more overseas investment opportunities, further enrich investment portfolios, reduce reliance on single markets, and enhance risk resilience. On the other hand, actively participating in overseas research is also conducive to asset management institutions like fund companies deepening their "going global" strategy, actively participating in overseas market competition, and enhancing their competitiveness on a global scale.
A fund manager based in Shanghai believes that behind the normalization of fund managers' overseas research lies the increasingly routine demand for global asset allocation among domestic investors. This will accelerate industry differentiation, reshape competency standards, and change investor experiences. Ultimately, those who succeed in this round of evolution will not be those with the most research trips, but those who can most effectively translate on-the-ground perceptions into portfolio excess returns.
It is worth noting that the industry also emphasizes that overseas research should be conducted with a rational and pragmatic attitude, avoiding formalistic follow-the-crowd behavior. Overseas research is not suitable for all products and investment research teams; it requires precise planning based on one's own capital scale, product positioning, and investment research capabilities. Only when product operation and investment strategy require support from a global perspective does overseas research shift from an "optional extra" to a "necessity." Blindly following trends and conducting aimless research trips are unlikely to yield effective investment research outcomes.
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