As Trump and Xi meet, investors play both sides of AI divide

As China and the U.S. race to build separate artificial intelligence supply chains, investors are playing both sides, with U.S. banks fundraising for AI upstarts in China and Chinese money flowing to U.S. tech. The stakes are sizable, with Wall Street banks acting as book-runners on 19 Chinese high-tech equity capital market deals worth $17.2 billion so far this year, according to LSEG data, accounting for nearly 30% of the sector’s total issuance. U.S. stocks, particularly semiconductors, are also the favorite destination for China’s outbound mutual funds.

The value of U.S. equity held by Hong Kong residents and mainland Chinese has jumped 23% in the past year to top $750 billion, U.S. data shows.