GQG’s Jain cuts AI exposure on data center woes, backs utilities

Rajiv Jain

Rajiv Jain, manager of the $23 billion GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity Fund, is trimming exposure to investments linked to artificial intelligence on concerns of waning data-center demand, while remaining bullish on utilities.

Utility companies in Asia have flagged that hyper-scalers are paring back data-center demand numbers following the region’s aggressive AI growth, Jain said Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley Australia Summit in Sydney.

“What we’ve learned from a lot of utilities is that there’s probably some more double counting. The numbers might be overstated here” on data-center appetite, he said. The buzz around artificial intelligence is approaching the “late innings, rather than the mid- or early innings,” he added.

Known for his contrarian bets, Jain bought into Adani Group stocks in 2023 when shares tanked in the fallout from a Hindenburg Research report that alleged accounting fraud. The fund’s stake in the group swelled to $10 billion in value a year later as stocks recovered, up from an initial investment of $1.9 billion.

The fund is positive on utilities globally over artificial intelligence, with Jain saying that the sector will continue to benefit from investments in power generation, distribution and transmission.