A New Way To Think About Artificial Intelligence With This ETF

Among the myriad thematic exchange traded funds investors have to consider, artificial intelligence products are numerous and some are catching on with investors.

What To Know

Count the ROBO Global Artificial Intelligence ETF THNQ as the latest member of the artificial intelligence ETF fray. THNQ, which debuted earlier this week, comes from a good gene pool as its stablemate, the Robo Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF ROBO, was the original and remains one of the largest robotics ETFs.

That's relevant because artificial intelligence and robotics are themes that frequently intersect with each other. Home to 72 stocks, the new THNQ follows the ROBO Global Artificial Intelligence Index.

Why It's Important

Adding to the case for A.I., even with a new product such as THNQ, is that the technology has hundreds, if not thousands, of applications supporting its growth.

“Companies developing AV technology are mainly relying on machine learning or deep learning, or both,” according to IHS Markit. “A major difference between machine learning and deep learning is that, while deep learning can automatically discover the feature to be used for classification in unsupervised exercises, machine learning requires these features to be labeled manually with more rigid rulesets. In contrast to machine learning, deep learning requires significant computing power and training data to deliver more accurate results.”

Like its family ROBO, THNQ offers wide reach with exposure to 11 sub-groups. Those include big data, cloud computing, cognitive computing, e-commerce and other consumer angles and factory automation, among others. Of course, semiconductors are part of the THNQ fold, too.

“The exploding use of AI is ushering in a new era of semiconductor architectures and computing platforms that can handle the accelerated processing requirements of an AI-driven world,” according to ROBO Global. “To tackle the challenge, semiconductor companies are creating new, more advanced AI chip engines using a whole new range of materials, equipment, and design methodologies.”

What's Next

While THNQ is a new ETF, investors may do well to not focus on that rather focus on the fact the AI boom is in its nascent stages.

“Historically, the stock market tends to under-appreciate the scale of opportunity enjoyed by leading providers of new technologies during this phase of development,” notes THNQ's issuer. “This fact creates a remarkable opportunity for investors who understand the scope of the AI revolution, and who take action at a time when AI is disrupting industry as we know it and forcing us to rethink the world around us.”

The new ETF charges 0.68% per year, or $68 on a $10,000 investment. That's inline with rival funds.