Korea Investment Management's 'ACE Nuclear TOP10' Achieves No.1 Six-Month Return Among Nuclear ETFs

Individual Investors Net Purchased 45.3 Billion Won in the Past Six Months
Theme Growth Driven by AI Data Center Power Demand

Korea Investment Management Co., Ltd. announced on March 10 that the ACE Nuclear TOP10 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) recorded the highest six-month return among all nuclear-themed ETFs.

According to FnGuide, a fund evaluation firm, the six-month return of the ACE Nuclear TOP10 ETF as of the previous day was 86.8%. This is the highest performance among the 10 domestic ETFs listed with the "nuclear" keyword and surpasses the average return of similar products, which stands at 55.98%. The one-year and three-year returns were also 205.33% and 476.71%, respectively.

The ACE Nuclear TOP10 ETF, launched in June 2022, is the first nuclear-themed ETF in Korea. It is characterized by allocating approximately 60% of its portfolio to three leading stocks in the domestic nuclear sector. In addition, it also includes stocks related to construction, equipment, components, and operations management within the industry.

As of the previous day, major holdings included: Hyundai Engineering & Construction (28.51%), Doosan Enerbility (21.40%), Daewoo Engineering & Construction (10.65%), Korea Electric Power Corporation (9.43%), and HD Hyundai Electric (7.90%). The benchmark index is the "DeepSearch Nuclear TOP10 Index," calculated by DeepSearch.

Based on the previous day's closing price, the fund's net asset value stood at 264.4 billion won, largely due to strong inflows from individual investors. Over the past six months, individual investors recorded net purchases totaling 45.3 billion won. Notably, there was a streak of net buying for 11 consecutive trading days from January 13 to January 27. Since the beginning of the year, individual net purchases have amounted to 39.2 billion won.

Recently, as demand for electricity from data centers has surged due to advances in artificial intelligence (AI), interest in nuclear-themed ETFs has also been rising. Corporate investments in data centers are continuously expanding, and in January, the government projected that data center power demand would reach 30 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2038. This is four times higher than last year’s data center electricity consumption.

Nam Yongsoo, Head of ETF Management at Korea Investment Management Co., Ltd., stated, "With the explosive growth of the AI industry, demand for data center electricity is soaring, and interest in nuclear energy is higher than ever. Nuclear energy is increasingly being recognized as a crucial sustainable power source."

He added, "Not only in Korea but also globally, major technology companies are planning financial support for the development of small modular reactors (SMRs) with capacities exceeding 20 GW. Some are even signing contracts to restart nuclear power plants, indicating concrete actions. This trend is naturally leading to greater interest in nuclear-themed investment products, and we expect the growth potential of related companies to expand further in the long term."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.