EMXETF has added a broader China-focused artificial-intelligence strategy to the U.S. ETF market with the debut of the China AI ETF, or AICH, an actively managed Nasdaq-listed fund designed to invest across the infrastructure, computing, models and applications that make up China’s AI economy.

The issuer’s website lists AICH as launched on September 15, 2026. A formal public announcement followed on September 16, describing the ETF as a vehicle for investors seeking targeted exposure to companies shaping China’s rapidly developing AI landscape. The timing places AICH alongside a growing number of specialized thematic funds that aim to isolate specific segments of the global AI investment cycle rather than relying on broad technology benchmarks dominated by large U.S. companies. Nasdaq Trader also lists AICH under Tidal Trust IV as the China AI ETF.

AICH’s investment objective is long-term capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the fund intends to invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities and derivative instruments linked to companies located in China or economically tied to China that derive significant revenue, profits, assets or business exposure from artificial-intelligence-related activities. For purposes of that 80% test, derivatives are measured at notional value.

The strategy is deliberately broader than a portfolio centered only on large language models or consumer internet platforms. EMQQ Global, which serves as the fund’s sub-adviser, uses what the prospectus describes as a proprietary “five-layer AI stack” framework to identify potential holdings across the Chinese AI economy.

The first layer covers energy and power infrastructure, including electricity generation, grid systems, cooling equipment, industrial power systems, renewable energy and transmission infrastructure that can support rising power demand from AI computing. The second layer focuses on semiconductors and computing, including chip design, manufacturing, packaging, testing and related hardware. The third covers data centers, cloud infrastructure and networking. The fourth targets AI models and platforms, including foundation models, large language models, machine-learning systems, cloud AI platforms and operating-system infrastructure. The fifth focuses on applications, including AI-enabled commerce, financial technology, digital advertising, enterprise software, robotics, autonomous systems, logistics, healthcare, education, entertainment and cybersecurity.

That layered construction is central to AICH’s positioning. Many AI-themed funds are heavily influenced by a small number of semiconductor designers, hyperscale cloud companies or established software platforms. AICH instead seeks to follow the development of a domestic Chinese AI ecosystem that includes not only model developers but also the physical and digital infrastructure required to train, deploy and commercialize those systems.

EMXETF says the strategy is intended to give investors exposure to areas such as domestic GPUs, memory, optical networking, semiconductor equipment, AI materials, robotics and applications. Its AICH fund page cites portfolio exposure to companies including CXMT, CATL, MetaX, Moore Threads, Cambricon, Montage Technology, Biren, Eoptolink, Innolight, Unitree Robotics, Z.ai and Iluvatar CoreX. Holdings are subject to change, and the fund’s ability to gain exposure to individual companies can depend on market access, liquidity and the instruments available to the portfolio manager.

The portfolio does not have to maintain equal weights across the five AI layers. The prospectus says allocations can vary significantly as market conditions and EMQQ Global’s security-selection process change. The sub-adviser may evaluate companies using factors including AI-related revenue exposure, research-and-development intensity, strategic position within the AI ecosystem, competitive advantages, growth expectations, valuation, liquidity and broader macroeconomic or geopolitical considerations.

That flexibility distinguishes AICH from a passive ETF that mechanically tracks an index according to preset market-capitalization or factor rules. In an industry where technology leadership can shift rapidly and where some companies move from private to public markets while others face changing regulatory or supply-chain conditions, an actively managed format allows the portfolio manager to adjust exposure without waiting for scheduled index reconstitutions.

The same flexibility, however, introduces manager-selection risk. Investors are relying on EMQQ Global’s judgment about which companies qualify as material participants in the AI stack, which technologies are commercially relevant and how much portfolio weight should be assigned to different layers. The fund can sell positions when the sub-adviser believes a company no longer fits the theme, fundamentals are weakening, regulation or competition has become less favorable, a valuation target has been reached or more attractive opportunities have emerged.

AICH can invest across market capitalizations and through several types of instruments. The prospectus permits common shares, preferred shares, convertible securities, American depositary receipts, global depositary receipts and other equity-linked investments. The fund may hold Chinese A-shares, Hong Kong-listed securities, ADRs, GDRs and securities associated with variable interest entity structures when permitted by applicable rules and the fund’s policies.

It can also use swaps and forward contracts to obtain exposure indirectly. That capacity may be particularly relevant in a China-focused technology portfolio because not every desired exposure is equally accessible through ordinary U.S.-listed equities. Derivatives can broaden the opportunity set, but they can also add counterparty, valuation, liquidity and leverage-related risks. The prospectus notes that the fund may hold U.S. government securities, including Treasury bills, notes and bonds, as collateral for derivatives positions.

AICH defines a company as economically tied to China if it is organized there, principally based there, primarily traded there, or derives at least 50% of its revenue, profits, assets or business activity from China. For that definition, China includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Offshore holding companies and VIE structures may also qualify when their underlying operations or economic exposure are substantially connected to China.

This framework creates a wider investment universe than a fund restricted to mainland-listed shares. It also brings additional layers of legal and regulatory complexity. VIE structures, for example, have historically been used by Chinese companies in industries where direct foreign ownership can be restricted. Depositary receipts can introduce differences between the traded security and the underlying shares, while Stock Connect access to mainland securities depends on the operating calendars and rules of multiple exchanges and markets.

The result is an ETF whose return profile may differ substantially from that of a conventional U.S. technology fund even when both are marketed around artificial intelligence. AICH combines technology-sector risk with foreign-market, currency, China policy, trading-access and geopolitical exposures. Its performance may therefore be driven not only by AI adoption and corporate earnings but also by export controls, domestic industrial policy, U.S.-China trade measures, changes in foreign-investment rules and shifts in access to advanced semiconductor equipment.

The fund is also explicitly non-diversified. That classification allows it to hold a larger portion of assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund, potentially increasing the effect of company-specific developments. Thematic concentration can amplify upside if favored segments perform well, but it can also magnify losses when a major holding, technology category or policy-sensitive industry falls out of favor.

Artificial-intelligence companies bring an additional set of fundamental risks. The prospectus notes that many businesses in the field face high research and capital expenditures, rapid technological obsolescence, intense competition and heavy dependence on intellectual property. For hardware and semiconductor companies, supply-chain bottlenecks, equipment availability, energy requirements and geopolitical restrictions can become material operating variables. For model developers and application companies, monetization, computing costs, regulatory treatment and competitive differentiation can change quickly.

AICH charges a 0.86% annual management fee, with no stated 12b-1 distribution fee and estimated other expenses of 0.00% in the current prospectus. The fund uses a unitary fee structure under which the adviser pays many ordinary fund operating expenses, subject to specified exclusions such as brokerage commissions, taxes, borrowing-related expenses, acquired-fund fees and extraordinary costs. The prospectus illustrates estimated expenses of $88 on a $10,000 investment over one year under its standard regulatory assumptions.

Tidal Investments LLC serves as investment adviser, while EMQQ Global LLC is the investment sub-adviser responsible for portfolio management under the adviser’s supervision. EMQQ Global founder Kevin T. Carter is named as a portfolio manager. EMXETF itself was established as a brand focused on artificial-intelligence opportunities across emerging markets, extending EMQQ Global’s longer-running emphasis on emerging-market technology.

The new ETF also expands EMXETF’s China product lineup beyond its China AI Tigers LLM ETF, ticker TGRZ. That fund was launched in August with a narrower emphasis on Chinese companies developing large language models and generative-AI systems. AICH moves outward from the model layer to the broader ecosystem, giving the issuer separate strategies for investors seeking either concentrated exposure to AI-model developers or a portfolio spanning the wider technology stack.

From an ETF-industry perspective, the distinction is significant. Artificial intelligence has become a crowded thematic category, but many products still derive a large share of exposure from the same U.S. semiconductor, cloud and software companies. AICH attempts to differentiate itself through geography as well as supply-chain breadth. Rather than treating China as a generic emerging-market technology allocation, it isolates companies that EMXETF believes participate directly in AI infrastructure or commercialization.

That approach may appeal to investors who already have substantial exposure to U.S. mega-cap technology stocks and want a separate vehicle for the Chinese side of the global AI investment cycle. It may also appeal to investors who view China’s push for domestic semiconductor capacity, AI models, robotics and digital infrastructure as a distinct long-term capital-spending theme.

At the same time, AICH should not be viewed as a substitute for a broad China allocation. Its mandate is thematic, concentrated and designed around companies connected to AI. It can therefore behave very differently from indexes that include banks, consumer staples, traditional industrial groups, property companies and other large parts of the Chinese equity market. Similarly, the fund does not promise balanced exposure to every stage of the AI stack at all times.

Because AICH is new, investors do not yet have an operating history through which to evaluate how its active process performs in different market environments, how tightly its market price tracks net asset value or how efficiently shares trade under normal and stressed conditions. New ETFs can also experience lower trading volumes and wider bid-ask spreads until assets and secondary-market activity build.

The launch nevertheless adds another specialized vehicle to the rapidly evolving AI ETF market. It also reflects a broader change in how thematic asset managers are packaging AI exposure. The first wave of AI funds often centered on familiar global technology companies. Newer strategies increasingly divide the theme into narrower components such as data centers, power, semiconductors, memory, model developers, robotics and national technology ecosystems.

AICH effectively combines several of those subthemes inside a single China mandate. Its investment case rests on the view that the country’s AI opportunity extends beyond a handful of consumer internet platforms and increasingly includes domestic compute hardware, chipmaking capabilities, optical networking, energy infrastructure, model developers and companies deploying AI into commercial applications.

For ETF investors, the practical question will be whether that broad-stack construction provides meaningfully different exposure from existing China technology funds and whether active management can navigate the access, regulatory and company-selection challenges that come with the theme. AICH enters the market with a clear answer to the first part of that question: it is structured specifically around artificial intelligence rather than around the broader Chinese technology sector. Its longer-term differentiation will depend on portfolio execution, liquidity, security selection and the development of China’s AI ecosystem itself.