AI and Robotics
Published by Radif Partners · Updated
Artificial Intelligence, Automation, the technologies reshaping every industry
This page compares 3 funds in the AI and Robotics category, with ongoing charges from 0.35% to 0.68% and a median of 0.40%. The gap between the cheapest and the dearest is worth roughly €330 over ten years on €10,000 invested: for a comparable index, that is the most reliable difference between two funds, because it rests on no assumption about markets. 2 of the 3 funds are accumulating and 3 replicate their index by holding its securities, the others using a swap. The largest fund in the list is XAIX, which matters less for returns than for the risk of closure: a fund that stays small usually ends up merged. Past performance is not used to rank this list: over the horizons published it says more about the index being tracked than about how the fund is run.
3
0.48%
+10.4%
0.35%
+27.0%
Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF 1C
iShares Automation & Robotics UCITS ETF USD (Acc)
Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF
What an index calls artificial intelligence
No official sector classification contains an artificial-intelligence sector. Each index provider therefore builds its own definition, and the methods diverge. Some start from a textual analysis of annual reports and keep companies deriving a minimum share of revenue from AI. Others draw up a list of themes, chips, cloud, software, robotics, and assign companies by hand. The first approach produces portfolios of thirty to fifty holdings, the second broader baskets, sometimes two hundred. Two AI funds can therefore share less than a third of their positions.
The consequence is that a ranking by past performance mostly tells you about the definition used, not about the quality of the fund. What does compare is on each fund page: ongoing charges, which repeat every year; assets, which decide liquidity and the fund's survival; the selection and capping method, published by the index provider; and the number of holdings, which measures real concentration. A thematic fund remains a sector bet: its place in a portfolio is counted as a percentage of the total, not in conviction.
What the funds in this category show
Where the money actually sits
The category holds 3 funds and 18.6B in combined assets, and those assets are not spread evenly. Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF 1C (XAIX), run by Xtrackers, holds 9.4B on its own, and the three largest, Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF 1C (XAIX), iShares Automation & Robotics UCITS ETF USD (Acc) (RBOT) and Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ), account for 100.0 % of the total. At the other end, Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ) manages only 3.3B. Size is no guarantee of quality, but it decides two very concrete things: the spread between buying and selling price you pay on every order, and the odds that the fund still exists in ten years.
The fee gap, in money
Ongoing charges run from 0.35 % for Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF 1C (XAIX) to 0.68 % for Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ), a gap of 0.33 points, against a category average of 0.48 %. On £10,000 held for ten years that gap is roughly 330 in extra charges, before counting the return that money would itself have earned. It is the one variable in the comparison known in advance: past performance does not repeat, fees repeat every year.
Two funds in one category do not hold the same basket
The 3 funds listed track 3 different indices, among them Nasdaq Global Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, iSTOXX FactSet Automation & Robotics and Indxx Global Robotics & AI Thematic. The largest tracks Nasdaq Global Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. That spread is why two funds filed under the same theme can differ by several points over a year: they hold different securities, weight them differently and rebalance on different dates. Each fund page names its index, and that is where a serious comparison starts.
Replication and domicile
All 3 funds in the category replicate their index physically: they hold the securities. What remains to check is whether the fund lends those securities, which the key information document states, and how much: lending income lowers the real cost, counterparty risk adds to market risk.
2 of the 3 funds are domiciled in IE, the rest in US. Domicile sets the withholding tax the fund itself suffers on the dividends it receives, a cost absent from the stated fee but present in the return, and it also sets your own tax treatment depending on where you live.
Accumulate or take the income
2 funds accumulate dividends, 1 pay them out. The largest accumulating share class is Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF 1C (XAIX), the largest distributing one Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ). The choice is not about yield, both versions of the same index return the same before tax, but about tax and discipline: the accumulating class reinvests with no cost and no decision, the distributing class pays income that is taxable in the year it arrives.
Age and critical size
The oldest fund in the category, iShares Automation & Robotics UCITS ETF USD (Acc) (RBOT), launched on 2016-09-08, giving 10 years of history, and the newest, Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF 1C (XAIX), on 2019-01-29. A long record shows how the fund behaved in a fall, which no one-year number can. A fund launched two years ago has lived through a single market regime.
None of the 3 funds manages under 100 million, the smallest being Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ). The category is therefore clear of closure risk for want of size, the risk that forces a sale on the issuer's timetable rather than the holder's.
Frequently asked questions
What are AI ETFs?
AI ETFs invest in companies developing or deploying artificial intelligence technologies, including chip makers like NVIDIA, cloud providers, software companies, and robotics firms. Check the figure in the key information document of the exact share class your broker offers, since two classes of the same fund can differ on charges and on distribution policy.
Are AI ETFs a good investment?
AI is a transformative technology with strong long-term growth potential. However, AI ETFs carry concentration risk and high valuations. They are best used as a satellite position (5-15% of portfolio). What matters more than the ranking is whether the underlying index suits your horizon and your tolerance for a fall of thirty per cent, which no score can decide for you.
What is the difference between AI ETFs and tech ETFs?
AI ETFs focus specifically on companies with significant AI revenue or operations. Tech ETFs are broader and include non-AI companies. AI ETFs tend to be more concentrated and volatile. Past performance over these horizons says more about the index than about the fund, which is why the comparison here weighs cost, size and tracking quality instead.
How much have AI ETFs returned?
AI-focused ETFs have seen strong returns since 2023 driven by the generative AI boom. However, thematic ETFs are cyclical and past performance does not indicate future results. Over a ten-year horizon the ongoing charge weighs more than any difference in past performance: 0.20% against 0.50% on €10,000 is about €300, compounded.