Timefolio Asset Management said it will launch the "TIME Global Humanoid Robot Industry Active Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)," which invests in companies tied to the advanced robotics industry worldwide, on Wednesday.
The product is an active ETF that invests across the broader physical AI industry, where artificial intelligence (AI) moves beyond digital space to see, judge, move and generate productivity in the real world. Timefolio Asset Management plans to pursue a strategy of flexibly examining and investing in global industries across the entire value chain, including humanoid robots.
The humanoid industry is likely to enter a full-scale growth phase when component standardization, cost declines, expanded mass production, and data accumulation come together, much like the early electric vehicle market. Unlike generative AI, robots must move in the real world and accumulate physical data, making early mass production and field testing key variables for industry development. In this process, the importance of core components and infrastructure is expected to grow alongside that of finished robot makers.
According to Timefolio Asset Management, the United States currently holds strengths in AI models, semiconductors and simulation; China in actuators, reducers, batteries and mass-production supply chains; and Korea and Japan in batteries, sensors and precision components. Given that leading companies and critical bottlenecks can continue to shift in an early-stage growth industry, the firm plans to respond quickly through active management.
"Since this is an early-stage industry where winners have not yet been determined, we will respond actively across the entire global value chain rather than concentrating on a specific country or a single finished robot company," a Timefolio Asset Management official said.
