China’s narrowing tech gap with US creates investment potential: global fund managers

CEOs of Primavera Capital, Franklin Templeton tout long-term potential of Chinese stocks at first World Economic Forum event in Hong Kong

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Jenny Johnson of Franklin Templeton (left) and Fred Hu of Primavera Capital take part in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems 2025 Symposium in Hong Kong on March 26, 2025. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 5:30pm, 26 Mar 2025Updated: 9:37am, 28 Mar 2025

China’s emergence as a leader in renewable energy, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence (AI) will provide long-term investment opportunities for international investors, according to business leaders.

“For a long time, China was viewed as a copycat,” Fred Hu Zuliu, chairman and CEO of Primavera Capital, said during panel discussion at the first World Economic Forum event held in Hong Kong on Wednesday. “But in the last decade, China has really emerged as the most economically innovative technology leader.

“While the US still leads the world, China is really closing the gap very rapidly, and DeepSeek is just one of the many examples. China has an enormous amount of data and a pool of talent, including engineers and scientists. All of these combine together. China really has potential.”

Stock markets in Hong Kong and the mainland have rallied since January after Hangzhou-based start-up DeepSeek launched two powerful and cost-effective large language models. The Hang Seng Index has jumped more than 20 per cent this year, after 18 per cent growth last year.

Hu said the importance of AI was that it will help not just big companies but also small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as consumers and retail investors, providing benefits across society and the real economy.

As an investment case, the benefits brought by DeepSeek would not be confined to the company alone, but would drive growth across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, consumer products and others, said Hu, whose company has mainland restaurant group Yum China, Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling and green tech company Envision in its portfolio.