By Cameron Robertson, Portfolio Manager, Platinum Asia Fund
Over the past few years, whether I’m talking to investors, brokers or advisers, one of the themes we end up covering is the tech boom in Asia. We’re a long way from the days when the Asia opportunity was about cheap labour and huge populations.
Look across Asia today and you’ll see an explosion of innovation and technological excellence. Last quarter we added Chinese autonomous vehicle company, Pony AI, to the Platinum Asia Fund and its sister ETF, the Platinum Asia Fund Complex ETF (PAXX).
It’s a stock pick that tells a broader story.
For many, autonomous driving is “exciting futuristic technology” – it’s always five years away. We bought Pony because that view is outdated. Autonomous vehicles are not on the horizon; they are on the road, scaling rapidly with unit economics that finally make sense.
Tomorrow’s robotaxi today
Pony AI grew its autonomous robotaxi fleet from approximately 250 vehicles at the end of 2024 to 1100 by the end of 2025. They plan to triple this in 2026. While focused primarily on China, they’re quietly setting up in Singapore, South Korea, Luxembourg, and Qatar.
To put this in context, reports suggest Google’s Waymo was serving 450,000 paid rides a week in late 2025 – a doubling in just six months. Pony AI is on a similar trajectory.
The investment case is not about cool technology; it’s the clean, cold math of unit economics. A few years ago, the sensor suites and computational power robotaxis needed were prohibitively expensive. Today, costs are plummeting. A fully equipped vehicle now costs less than $50,000, with Pony aiming to reduce the autonomy suite cost by a further 40% this year.
When you remove the driver, operating leverage is immense. While there are overheads —cleaning crews, maintenance, and remote monitoring — these costs are easily covered at scale. Early indications show insurance costs are materially lower due to superior safety records and a single remote monitor can track over 25 vehicles simultaneously.
Furthermore, the technology is more robust. A few years ago, these cars could only run in simple, sunny environments. Today, Pony’s vehicles work 24/7 in the chaotic traffic of Beijing and Shanghai, rain, shine or smog.
Of course, risks remain. Before Christmas, a power outage blacked traffic lights across San Francisco, overwhelming Waymo’s remote operations teams and leaving confused robotaxis stranded. Competition is also intensifying.
However, as cyberpunk author William Gibson said, “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” We believe the distribution of this technology is accelerating, and our investment in Pony AI is a stake in that future.
Semi heavyweights
One of the exciting things about investing in Asia while a tech revolution unfolds is the range of ways we get to play that revolution.
Pony is a bet on the future of autonomous driving. It’s a relatively small company. Over the past few years our funds – and our investors – benefited hugely from the performance of much bigger companies – semiconductor heavyweights riding the enthusiasm for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Korea’s SK hynix (+270%) and Samsung Electronics (+125%) both had stellar years in 2025. So did Taiwan’s TSMC (+44%).
In China we have a decent position in another tech giant, Alibaba, which is a leader in e-commerce, payments, cloud computing and digital media. It’s now striking out into chip development and just launched its own AI platform.
We also have exposure to smaller video-centred companies like Bilibilli and Kuaishou. Both are tapped into huge consumer markets with addictive features such as Bilibilli’s real-time captioning system (danmaku) which drives deep engagement among its 117 million daily active users. Kuaishou has over 415 million active daily users and a hit on its hands with its AI-driven Kling video creation app.
The shakeout
As we write, markets are going through one of their periodic and frantic reassessments of the AI revolution. Can big tech maintain its capex spend? Will these technologies deliver the earnings they promise? Who wins and loses in a reshaped global economy?
These are all valid questions and we think about them every day. The one certainty amongst all these questions is that AI-powered tech will be the engine of the change.
Today, Asia offers investors their pick of high-quality businesses, at different sizes and stages of growth, working across a wide range of these technologies. That creates real opportunity.
Platinum in Asia
Experience in the region: Investing in Asia since 2003
Long-term returns: The Platinum Asia Fund averages a 13% annual return since 2003
Structure choices:
- ETF: Platinum Asia Fund Complex ETF (ASX: PAXX).
- Managed Fund: The Platinum Asia Fund (APIR: PLA0004AU)
Ratings:
- Platinum Asia Fund Complex ETF (PAXX). Lonsec: Investment Grade; Zenith: Approved
- The Platinum Asia Fund (Managed Fund). Lonsec: Investment Grade; Zenith: Approved,
L1 Group Limited (ASX:L1G) is an ASX-listed, global investment manager formed through the merger of L1 Capital and Platinum Asset Management. Together we are one of Australia’s leading investment houses, with proven and experienced investment teams that conduct high quality, independent company and industry research.
