Update on... Echiquier Artificial Intelligence ǀ January 2026
Stéphane Nières Tavernier, Head of Technology Unit & Fund Manager, Christophe Pouchoy, Fund Manager of Echiquier Artificial Intelligence, La Financière de l’Échiquier (LFDE)
LFDE’s experienced tech management team, comprised of four experts and managing nearly €1.9 billion in assets,[1] seeks out what it considers to be the best opportunities related to artificial intelligence (AI), the adoption of which is accelerating. Cloud infrastructure players – semiconductor manufacturers, data centre equipment providers and cloud hosting companies – were the first to benefit, but the monetisation of generative AI functionalities is now spreading to the software sector with the arrival of AI co-pilots and agents. This could see the AI market reach $1,810 billion by 2030, a 5.4-fold increase since 2024.[2] We believe Echiquier Artificial Intelligence is well positioned to benefit from the long-term growth of this ecosystem.
PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY
Tactical operations
Investment in the cloud infrastructure required to run AI models continued in 2025. Major cloud hosting providers and key users of AI servers continued to add new capacity, which is now reflected in the future growth forecasts of suppliers such as Nvidia and Broadcom. We took profits on these players in 2025. The second wave of AI monetisation is being driven by software vendors – applications, internet services, cybersecurity – whose new AI products, from data analysis to AI co-pilots and agents, are making an increasing contribution to their bottom lines. We recently strengthened our positions on Cloudflare, ServiceNow, Zscaler, Snowflake and Dynatrace, while selling Confluent following its acquisition by IBM. Finally, we are positioned to capitalise on the rise of AI models in the real economy via Alphabet and Meta (digital advertising), ARM (Edge AI[3]) and Thermo Fisher (medical robots), while maintaining more defensive stocks.
Fundamentals
Following the construction of physical (data centres) and digital (cloud) infrastructure, applications using generative AI are gradually spreading into the real world. Potential use cases are multiplying, with companies designing AI functionalities not only as a means of increasing employee productivity, but also as a tool for marketing high value-added products and services. AI is set to become increasingly tangible by integrating into personal technological equipment – which is what prompted the addition of Apple to the portfolio in July 2025 – and into robots, medical devices, logistics, humanoids, autonomous transport systems, and more.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
In a universe currently made up of more than 1 000 stocks identified by our semantic algorithms, our strategy draws on our sector expertise to identify what we believe to be the best opportunities through fundamental financial and non-financial analysis. Among the players corresponding to our four target profiles – AI Vendors, Users, AI Infrastructure Providers, Facilitators – we prefer those for which AI will have the greatest amplifying effect. We have developed tools to compare the growth prospects and valuations of the opportunities we have identified. The fund focuses on around 30 opportunities that we believe will capture the long-term value creation associated with this revolution.
Disclaimers: The fund is primarily exposed to the risk of capital loss, equity risk, currency risk, emerging markets risk and sustainability risk. For more information on its features, risks and fees, please read the regulatory documents available at www.lfde.com. Investors are reminded that certain units/shares may not be marketed in their country of residence. The stocks referred to are given by way of example. Neither their presence in the portfolio nor their performance are guaranteed. The opinions expressed in this document are the fund manager’s own. LFDE shall not be held liable for these opinions in any way.
[1] At 31.12.2025, LFDE
[2] GrandViewResearch study, April 2025
[3] Technology that enables AI to be deployed without the need for the cloud, by embedding miniature AI in everyday tech devices.