Artificial intelligence has rapidly evolved from a niche investment theme into one of the largest categories in the global ETF industry. As investors race to capture exposure across semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, software, robotics, and autonomous systems, assets in AI-focused ETFs have grown to exceed USD 51 billion across the top 20 funds globally.
The most notable recent development in this landscape extends beyond performance, or fund flows: in April 2026, the KraneShares Public-Private AI & Technology ETF (AGIX) became the first top-10 AI ETF to be directly listed on a GCC exchange, marking a significant step in the region’s growing integration with global thematic investment markets.
Below is a full breakdown of the world’s 20 largest AI ETFs by assets under management, followed by analysis of issuer concentration, management style, and the AGIX structure.
Who controls the largest share of AI ETF assets?
The top 20 AI ETFs are not evenly distributed across issuers. BlackRock and Global X together account for more than 72% of total assets, reflecting the advantage of brand, distribution, and early-mover positioning in the category.
The concentration of assets among a handful of issuers also illustrates how quickly AI has become a mainstream investment theme rather than a niche allocation. It also raises product selection risk: the iShares and Global X names collectively account for half the universe, but their specific mandates, from active stock-picking to robotics index-tracking, differ materially.
Are active managers winning the AI investment race?
Unlike many traditional ETF sectors dominated by passive index strategies, AI investing has seen a notable rise in actively managed funds. Five of the top 20 AI ETFs employ active management, and they collectively manage USD 20 billion, nearly 40% of total assets in the category.
Active funds in this universe charge a higher average management fee (0.66%) versus passive/rules-based funds (0.60%), reflecting the higher cost of research and portfolio management. However, in a sector where leadership can shift rapidly between semiconductors, cloud providers, software developers, and private market innovators, active strategies offer a structural edge over rules-based indexing.
How did AGIX become a top-10 AI ETF globally?
One of the most structurally distinctive funds on this list is AGIX, which has surpassed USD 1.1 billion in assets and now ranks as the 10th largest AI ETF globally. What sets AGIX apart is its hybrid mandate: the fund can invest in both public equities and private companies, providing access to a segment of the AI ecosystem that has historically been available only to venture capital firms and institutional investors.
Per KraneShares portfolio disclosures, AGIX holds direct stakes in SpaceX, Anthropic, and Nuro alongside a diversified book of publicly listed AI companies.
AGIX is among the lowest-cost actively managed AI ETFs in the top 10, charging a fee of 0.45%, matching WisdomTree’s WTAI and below the 0.47% charged by iShares ARTY. Since its inception in July 2024 through April 2026, the fund’s underlying public equity index returned 45.72%, outpacing the Nasdaq-100’s 36.42% gain over the same period, per KraneShares.
The Anthropic position has been a significant performance driver: AGIX established its stake in February 2025 at a reported valuation of USD 61.5 billion, and by year-end 2025, the position had appreciated to an estimated fair value roughly four times its initial cost.
What does AGIX's GCC listing mean for regional investors?
On April 16, 2026, AGIX became directly listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), the second-largest exchange in the Arab region by market capitalisation. The listing gives UAE and GCC investors local market access to a globally recognised AI strategy, tradable through familiar brokerage platforms without requiring accredited investor status or private-market lockups.
The listing was built on an accelerating ADX cross-listing programme from KraneShares, which started with KWEB and KRBN in December 2025. The table below summarises KraneShares’ ADX listings to date.
The timing reflects strong and rapidly growing institutional demand for ETF products in the region. ADX recorded a 183% increase in ETF trading value and nearly 134% growth in the number of ETF investors year-on-year in March 2026 alone, according to ADX Group CEO Abdulla Salem Alnuaimi.
For GCC investors, the AGIX listing is particularly relevant given the region’s exposure to AI through sovereign wealth fund investments in OpenAI, Anthropic, and a range of US technology companies. AGIX offers a liquid, regulated route to participate in the same private AI ecosystem, including SpaceX, which is evaluating a public listing later in 2026 through a single exchange-traded product.
What will the next generation of AI ETFs look like?
The AI ETF landscape has evolved through three broad generations, each expanding the scope of what ‘AI investing’ means in practice.
For GCC investors, this evolution creates both opportunity and complexity. The top 20 AI ETFs now span meaningfully different mandates: a passive index tracking robotics stocks, a concentrated active fund holding private unicorns, and a covered-call income strategy built on AI equities are not comparable products despite sharing a category label. Understanding those distinctions is increasingly important as more of these products become accessible through regional exchanges.
The AGIX listing on ADX is an early signal of what that access could look like. Whether it is followed by additional cross-listings from other global AI ETF providers will depend on exchange infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and, critically, investor demand.
