Jason Liu: «Now is a Good Time to Buy and Hold China AI»
Buy and hold Chinese artificial intelligence stocks now, Deutsche Bank’s Jason Liu told finews.asia, citing earnings growth and positive investor sentiments as major drivers.
Chinese equities have seen a revival in 2025 with numerous positive events, including a symposium hosted by President Xi Jinping and attended by founders and CEOs of China’s largest companies, including Alibaba’s Jack Ma who had largely withdrawn from public life after authorities halted the IPO of his fintech firm Ant in 2020. Another noteworthy headline was the so-called DeepSeek moment – a revelation of China’s own artificial intelligence capabilities.
«The DeepSeek moment triggered a rally since February and we think China AI will become a multi-year growth theme,» said Jason Liu, head of CIO office, APAC, Deutsche Bank Private Bank, in an interview with finews.asia.
Hold for the Long-Term
According to Liu, the bank is relatively constructive on Asia, especially on the tech story in China.
«We think the earnings growth and improving sentiment will support Hong Kong and China equities, especially in AI or semiconductor-related companies,» he added. «And because the valuations are quite attractive, we believe now is a good time to buy and hold China AI for the long-term.»
Neutral on US Tech
In contrast, the bank is tactically neutral on the US tech sector with strong earnings upside being offset by stressed valuations and more cautious sentiments. The attractiveness of the market is further impacted by the weakening dollar.
«We think the US dollar will remain weak in the next 12 months,» Liu explained. «In the very long term, there could be changes to US dollar dominance with shifts in foreign trade and restructuring of central bank reserves, especially into gold, because of geopolitical tensions since the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, we think the US dollar will remain the reserve currency for most countries.»
Coupled by political uncertainty and tariffs, Liu noted that clients have already been thinking about de-dollarization in their portfolios with interest from Asia in Japan and Singapore banks for non-US allocations.
More Upside for Broader Market
Nonetheless, Deutsche Bank still sees further returns from the broader US equity market.
«In the US, we upgraded our GDP forecast to 1.5 percent this year and set the target for the S&P 500 at 6,800 by September 2026. We think there is more upside due to three drivers,» Liu said.
«Firstly, the Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates and we expect a cumulative 75 basis points of cuts in 2025 and a total of five cuts by September 2026. Secondly, we expect strong earnings growth, especially in the tech sector. Thirdly, there are tailwinds from deregulation under US President Donald Trump.»
Tariff Impact Smaller Than Expected
Even on tariffs, the impact thus far has been limited relative to initial anticipations based on Trump’s aggressive rhetoric.
«The initial impact of tariffs is smaller than we previously forecasted in June this year. As a result, we’ve lifted GDP forecasts for all the major economies including the US, Eurozone and China. Globally, we upgraded our forecast from 2.8 percent to 3 percent this year,» Liu shared.
