News / Media September 22, 2026

KraneShares’ Brendan Ahern on reassessing China

"You're seeing, particularly in the options market, a lot of call options in KWEB, people are expecting a potentially better than anticipated outcome," KraneShares CIO Brendan Ahern told Dominic Chu on CNBC's ETF Edge ahead of President Trump's meeting with President Xi.

Brendan discussed the investment case for China across both macro and AI angles, highlighting the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (Ticker: KWEB) as a direct play on China's AI hyperscalers, including Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu on cloud, alongside large language model names like Z.ai and Minimax, while also noting that the semiconductor companies held in the KraneShares China Technology & Semiconductor STAR 50 Index ETF (Ticker: KSTR) may be directly benefiting from China's AI hyperscaler buildout.

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This material contains the speakers' opinions. It is provided for informational purposes only and should not be regarded as investment advice or a recommendation of specific securities.

For KWEB standard performance, top 10 holdings, risks, and other fund information, please click here.

For KSTR standard performance, top 10 holdings, risks, and other fund information, please click here.

KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF

Key Catalysts that may poise the China internet sector for strong performance:

China's AI industry is positioned for continued growth. The country aims to expand its core AI industry to over $140 billion by 2030 and boost related sectors to $1.4 trillion across the same period.^*

China has a large middle class population of over 500 million people,^** which represents a sizable market opportunity for the companies held in KWEB. China's internet population reached 1.13 billion people in 2025. With a penetration rate of only 80% (compared to 93% in the US), there is significant potential for user growth.^†

Online shopping accounted for 26% of retail purchases and retail web sales totaled $2.2 trillion in China in 2025 (compared to $1.3 trillion in the United States).^**

Data generated from E-Commerce and internet services provides the companies held in KWEB with the proprietary, high-volume datasets necessary to train increasingly complex AI models, which further bolsters Chinese AI development. China's annual data volume grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26% from 2022 to 2026, ranking first in the world.^*

* World Economic Forum, "Blueprint to Action: China’s Path to AI-Powered Industry Transformation", January 2025. Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR): Mean annual growth rate of an investment over a period longer than one year.
** Data from National Bureau of Statistics of China and the United States Census Bureau as of 12/31/2025.
^† Data from ITU and the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) as of 12/31/2025.

KraneShares’ Brendan Ahern on reassessing China

China, Emerging Markets & Regional ETFs

KWEB

KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF

Key Catalysts that may poise the China internet sector for strong performance: