Krane Funds Advisors has added fresh fuel to its single-stock lineup with a leveraged bet on one of China’s most recognisable tech names. On Nov. 21, the firm rolled out the KraneShares 2X Long BIDU Daily ETF (NASDAQ:KBDU), designed to deliver twice the daily percentage change of Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) shares.
Fund Details
KBDU seeks to provide 200% of Baidu’s daily move, before fees and expenses, slotting into KraneShares’s expanding family of single-stock leveraged products. The firm framed the launch as part of a broader effort to give traders high-octane exposure to global internet and technology names, particularly those outside the U.S. that mirror the dominance of Western peers.
Why Baidu, Why Now
KraneShares said Baidu’s profile within China’s digital economy positions the company as a compelling candidate for geared exposure. It remains the country’s largest search engine and a significant player in cloud services, including AI software tools. Executives also pointed to ongoing growth in consumer internet usage across emerging markets, noting that the long-term adoption trends of these technologies continue to open opportunities for targeted ETF strategies.
James Maund, head of capital markets at the firm, said Baidu’s businesses draw natural parallels with the Google ecosystem in the U.S.; the new ETF is intended to be a way for investors to tap into evolving global tech themes without directly dealing with international trading frictions.
Robotaxis, AI Models Add Momentum
Besides its legacy search dominance, Baidu’s big push into the field of autonomous mobility remains a key storyline. Its Apollo Go robotaxi network has logged more than 9 million cumulative rides, with a recent expansion into the UAE adding a rare international foothold for a Chinese autonomous-driving platform.
On the AI front, Baidu’s Ernie Bot – its flagship large language model – has rolled out multimodal capabilities and is described as delivering performance comparable to DeepSeek’s R1, a benchmark often watched in China’s fast-moving AI race.
With KBDU, KraneShares is betting that traders looking for a turbocharged way to express views on China’s AI, autonomous driving, and cloud-infrastructure growth cycles may find Baidu an increasingly timely vehicle.
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