On September 16, news emerged that according to a survey by Bank of America, Asian software and platform stocks are rapidly becoming a new favorite among investors, soaring from the bottom rank just over a month ago to the most attractive AI trade in the region. On September 15, strategists including Kaspar Lam pointed out in a report that a quarter of respondents selected this category as their top AI trade in Asia for the next 12 months, representing the highest proportion among options such as storage and data centers. In August, this theme ranked near the bottom, just above AI computing power. This shift suggests that investors may be moving their focus in AI trading from stocks of companies building computing power to those of companies that can demonstrate AI's ability to drive profits. As some AI leaders call for a slowdown in development due to safety concerns, this shift could benefit Indian AI-related software stocks. The Bank of America survey also revealed that monetization capabilities are becoming a bigger consideration for investors when increasing their holdings of AI-related stocks, with 80% of respondents viewing it as key to boosting confidence, up from 64% in August.
