The volatile market conditions in the A-share market since the start of the year are sending a clear signal to investors: the investment focus for the Year of the Horse differs significantly from previous years. Currently, market indices are stabilizing, while external disruptive factors are increasing. This suggests that the previous broad-based rallies, where all stocks rose with the tide, are unlikely to continue. The market has truly entered a structural phase that tests fund managers' abilities to meticulously select individual stocks.
At this critical juncture, companies with consistently strong equity performance and robust investment research teams may warrant greater attention, such as established fund firms like ICBC Credit Suisse. Such platforms typically possess deep talent pools built over time, comprehensive industry research systems, and scientifically effective organizational processes. Within such teams, professionals with outstanding stock-picking abilities are more likely to emerge.
Over the past two years, ICBC Credit Suisse fund manager Ma Lina has distinguished herself with exceptional performance. Reviewing her background and portfolio reveals that this fund manager differs from the traditional image of a growth-oriented investor—she is more focused, forward-looking, steady, and prudent. This type of manager may be the reliable public fund "rider" investors can trust in the Year of the Horse's turbulent market. The question of what kind of "thoroughbred" is needed to charge ahead on this year's investment track may find its answer here.
Ma Lina's academic background seems to have laid the groundwork for her current investment research role. She earned her bachelor's degree in Microelectronics from Peking University and her master's degree in Computer Science from the same institution—fields that are now highly relevant to booming sectors like AI hardware and semiconductors. After entering the public fund industry, her professional expertise was further honed. At ICBC Credit Suisse, she long engaged in TMT sector research, starting as a junior TMT analyst and progressively advancing to TMT team leader, deputy director of research, and eventually fund manager. Throughout her research career, "specialization" and "depth" aptly describe her approach. Over the past decade, she has remained rooted in the technology sector, avoiding indiscriminate expansion of her circle of competence while accumulating substantial industry knowledge and information resources in hard tech areas like semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI). This has provided a solid foundation for her current investment role.
Her engineering background has endowed Ma Lina with rigorous logical thinking, while her Peking University education cultivated a disciplined mindset. Continuous research积累 at ICBC Credit Suisse has enabled her to efficiently cut through market noise and grasp the core logic of technological advancements amid the capital market's speculative trends. Discerning truth from falsehood has been the paramount challenge in technology sector investing in recent years.
A fund manager's stock-picking prowess depends on two key abilities: possessing a forward-looking macro perspective on industries and accurately translating major trends into excellent stock selections. Both capabilities are fully evident in Ma Lina. Perhaps due to her long-term tracking of the technology industry, she holds unique insights into major tech trends, particularly regarding AI development. By analyzing the direction of computing power and the pace of application implementation, she前瞻性ly recognized the vast potential of the large model industry, laying a solid foundation for investing in key semiconductor companies. Examining her management of the ICBC Emerging Manufacturing Mixed Fund clearly demonstrates this foresight. Since she took over, the fund's portfolio radically shifted from its previous focus on utility stocks to a structure dominated by AI and chips, maintaining this direction consistently. In hindsight, this was not mere trend-chasing but reflected precise judgment accumulated through deep industry chain research.
In the Q3 2024 report, Ma Lina explicitly stated: "We will actively seek investment opportunities in technology growth industries, mainly including semiconductors. After inventory digestion in 2023, global semiconductor demand is expected to return to growth. China's semiconductor import substitution is entering a critical phase, with numerous participants in low-end segments and ongoing high-end substitution. We are long-term optimistic about China's semiconductor industry development, aiming to select excellent companies that can continuously advance high-end R&D and maintain favorable competitive landscapes." This seemingly straightforward summary precisely predicted the semiconductor cycle recovery and the wave of import substitution, while explaining the core logic behind her continued allocation to AI.
After determining industry directions, only through deep research and systematic tracking can truly good companies be identified from the bottom up to translate strategy into performance. Ma Lina demonstrates strong execution capability in this regard. Deconstructing her fund portfolio reveals she not only holds leading stocks firmly but also manages timing effectively. For leading stocks showing strong performance over multiple quarters, she dares to take significant positions and maintain long-term holdings. For instance, a certain domestic chip leader entered her top ten holdings during her major portfolio repositioning in Q3 2024 and has remained a stable "anchor position" since. Meanwhile, some analog chip or chip component companies appear as temporary allocations in her portfolio, indicating she possesses her own system and stock selection "values": long-term industry leaders deserve sustained holding, while peripheral stocks are traded based on their aggressiveness and cost-effectiveness to contribute returns.
Available information suggests Ma Lina's unique stock-picking approach in technology revolves around three core elements: high earnings growth (seeking companies benefiting from industry trends with rapid growth potential), valuation flexibility (capturing targets the market is willing to premiumize during industry upswings), and competitive moats (ensuring companies maintain profitability through cycles). Integrating this framework with historical quarterly reports shows her technology investing isn't simplistic "sector buying" but involves deep value discovery to unearth alpha returns across technology's developmental stages.
Data validates this approach. Quarterly reports show her managed ICBC Emerging Manufacturing Mixed Fund (A: 009707) achieved a 65.78% return in 2025, while ICBC Innovation Selection One-Year Fixed Open Mixed Fund (A: 009867) also delivered 65.57%, showing outstanding positioning. Galaxy Securities data indicates ICBC Emerging Manufacturing Mixed Fund ranked top five in both three-year and five-year returns among mixed funds-equity-oriented funds (60%-95% equity) (A-shares) (5/1465 and 4/709), receiving three-year and five-year five-star fund ratings, demonstrating prominent medium-to-long-term performance. Not only identifying the right track but ensuring the "thoroughbred" runs orderly—Ma Lina exhibits strong portfolio management skills.
Ma Lina's outstanding performance doesn't exist in isolation but is supported by ICBC Credit Suisse's powerful platform-based investment research system. This aligns with long-term observations that fund managers achieving sustained excellence typically operate within robust research platforms. The TMT team at ICBC Credit Suisse where Ma Lina works epitomizes this platform advantage. Comprising professionals with deep expertise and rich investment experience, mostly graduates of renowned domestic and international universities across electronics, computing, and communications, the team possesses solid technological knowledge. Leveraging their specialized backgrounds, members deeply understand tech companies' technical characteristics and development trends, providing strong support for investment decisions.
As an institution pursuing long-term team performance, ICBC Credit Suisse continuously improves its "platform-based, team-oriented, integrated, multi-strategy" research system with strong internal cultivation capabilities. Data shows by end-2025, ICBC Credit Suisse's research team exceeded 220 people, with investment professionals averaging over 12 years' experience, over 70% of fund managers internally developed. Ma Lina represents one such product of this system. Additionally, daily operations feature完善的 mentorship mechanisms and high-frequency research interactions, ensuring effective传承 of investment philosophies across generations and uninterrupted flow of investment insights within the team. This effectively supports fund managers and researchers in transforming individual capabilities into shareable, iterative organizational assets, ultimately enhancing long-term team performance. Particularly in TMT, team members leverage thematic seminars to integrate industry chain perspectives, providing multidimensional, comprehensive intellectual support for fund managers.
Platform strength is evidenced in long-term performance. Guotai Haitong Securities data shows as of December 31, 2025, among 13 large equity fund companies, ICBC Credit Suisse ranked first in both absolute and excess returns over seven years (1/13), with top rankings over five years. Furthermore, the company consecutively won the "Golden Bull Fund Management Company" award for three terms, demonstrating comprehensive research strength.
Facing the A-share market's fluctuating yet opportunity-laden rhythm, how should ordinary investors respond? One solution is finding a trustworthy, knowledgeable, and focused fund manager for portfolio allocation. As trend-based opportunities diminish, professional capability and platform support become crucial for seizing opportunities. As technology grows more specialized and segmented, with accelerating iterations and increasingly focused research talent, "letting professionals handle professional matters" becomes an increasingly rational direction. Fund managers like Ma Lina from ICBC Credit Suisse's TMT team—with strong academic backgrounds, ability to grasp technology macro-trends, solid execution skills, and backing from top-tier research platforms—may represent "treasure" options worthy of investor consideration in the Year of the Horse.
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