The latest Global Family Office Report from Swiss bank UBS paints a clear picture of how the world's wealthiest families are navigating a hyper-fragmented and uncertain economic landscape. Gathering insights from 307 family offices across more than 30 markets managing an average net worth of $2.7 billion, the study highlights a major tactical pivot toward long-term portfolio resilience. While these ultra-high-net-worth investors are meticulously adjusting their strategic asset allocations to weather geopolitical shifts and rising sovereign debt, there is one area where they are charging ahead with absolute conviction.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has firmly established itself as the sharpest and most dominant thematic investment priority on their radar. Driven by a potent combination of long-term strategic belief and a very real fear of missing out, the global elite are digging deep into the AI revolution.
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Standing tall amid valuation anxieties
Thematic investing has increasingly become a core strategy for family offices looking to express structural, long-term convictions rather than just trading asset classes. Standing at the absolute apex of this trend is AI, which commands a staggering 65% participation rate among the ultra-wealthy. This broad embrace is happening despite widespread and openly acknowledged concerns about stretched valuations and the threat of overexuberance in public equity markets.
Rather than engineering a cautious retreat or scaling back their capital deployments, family offices are refining how they manage their exposure. The overwhelming majority intend to either maintain or aggressively increase their exposure to AI over the coming months. The dynamic reveals a clear investment psyche where the fear of being left behind outweighs the immediate fear of a market correction.
Betting on the global tech stack
To minimize the risks of a localised bubble, the world's richest families are spreading their bets comprehensively across the entire AI technology value chain. They are heavily focused on the physical and logistical build-out needed to make widespread AI adoption possible in the first place. Roughly half of the family offices with dedicated AI allocations are funneling capital into data center infrastructure, specialized AI software platforms and cutting-edge semiconductor producers.
This ecosystem approach allows investors to capture value at every stage, from the raw processing power of microchips to the cloud infrastructure housing the data and the user-facing platforms. It is a well-diversified strategy that relies on a mix of public equities and direct private equity investments to maximize exposure to both established tech titans and agile startups.
Straddling the US-China AI divide
The race for AI dominance has inevitably triggered a severe geopolitical divide, resulting in distinct and competing technology spheres. Interestingly, family offices are using their unique agility and cross-border flexibility to straddle this divide rather than choosing a side. According to insights from the UBS report, the fear of missing out is compelling wealthy families to back rival AI ecosystems simultaneously as they develop in both the US and China.
By participating in both spheres, these global investment vehicles ensure they remain insulated from regional tech monopolies and are perfectly positioned to profit no matter which superpower moves faster. This dual-track strategy highlights a pragmatic approach to modern geopolitical fragmentation, turning a clear macroeconomic risk into a diversified opportunity.
AI-adjacent themes
The massive capital migration toward artificial intelligence is also driving a secondary wave of investments into adjacent structural growth themes. Chief among these is power generation and resources, which attracts capital from 37% of family offices, with another 15% planning to add it to their portfolios over the next year. This surge in interest reflects the reality that training and running massive AI models requires an unprecedented amount of electricity, making power utilities and electrification prime targets for wealth preservation.
Tangible assets are benefiting broadly from this trend, with infrastructure drawing significant attention as an independent long-term growth play. Beyond energy and hardware, AI-enabled healthcare is emerging as a massive magnet for private wealth, drawing in 33% of current allocations as families look to capitalize on tech-driven breakthroughs in longevity and biotechnology. Ultimately, while the global ultra-wealthy are building defensive walls around their traditional asset portfolios, their aggressive and calculated approach to AI proves they are entirely unwilling to sit out the defining technological shift of the century.
