South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund plots push into AI, metaverse

South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund has outlined plans to up its investments in Silicon Valley startups as it looks to increase its exposure to the metaverse, AI and alternative assets. 

The head of the $200 billion fund, Korea Investment Corp (KIC), said it was looking past tech’s recent stock market nosedive and the risk of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, according to a report by Bloomberg. 

CEO Seoungho Jin told Korean media that while some argue that Silicon Valley is “saturated,” it is still a source of global growth. 

Alternative assets could make up 25% of KIC’s portfolio by 2025, he said, which would increase the fund’s exposure from around 17% last year.

The fund’s allocation to alternative assets, including private equity and hedge funds, will increase by about 2 percentage points in 2022, Bloomberg’s report said. 

Assets under management will eventually rise to $300 billion. 

In May last year, Jin replaced Heenam Choiat the helm of the fund, which has nearly doubled in size over the past five years. Previously, he had spent most of his career at the finance ministry, which owns 100% of KIC.