AI will continue to drive global stock market returns in 2026, and here are some low-cost ETF options to help you position your portfolio correctly.
AI, or artificial intelligence, is no longer a speculative theme, emerging through 2025 as the central force reshaping global productivity, capital investment, sector leadership, and long‑term economic growth.
We expect this shift to become wider, deeper and stronger in 2026. Why?
- AI is becoming economically indispensable, with real, measurable return on investment
- Corporate spending is at historic highs, driving multi‑year growth cycles.
- Infrastructure demand is creating investable opportunities across hardware, cloud and energy systems.
- Technological breakthroughs will expand adoption across consumer, enterprise and industrial markets.
- Global competition ensures long‑term investment momentum and prioritisation of AI capabilities by governments and corporations.
An AI economic engine in 2026
Investors positioned early across the AI value chain stand to benefit from one of the most transformative technology cycles in modern history.
Barclays’ AI Outlook 2026 notes that the next wave of AI innovation moves beyond answering questions to executing actions autonomously, which could dramatically enhance productivity across industries.
This transition, sometimes called agentic AI, enables smart systems to perform tasks, make decisions and automate workflows at unprecedented scale.
Sectors expected to benefit early include finance, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and professional services, all poised for efficiency gains as AI embeds deeper into operations.
Massive corporate investment
BlackRock’s 2026 outlook highlights AI as the macro story shaping global growth. The firm estimates global AI capital expenditure could reach $5 tillion to $8 trillion by 2030, with momentum accelerating into 2026.
This huge investment wave is transforming the economy into a capital‑intensive, AI‑driven regime, supporting economic growth even when traditional indicators soften.
That makes AI‑linked companies, perhaps particularly the hyperscaler cloud operators – Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), alongside GPU chip champion Nvidia (NVDA) – central to equity market leadership.
These hyperscalers are spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually on AI data centres, compute clusters, energy capacity and advanced cooling systems.
Analysts have noted that the investment scale is so large that Amazon’s capex alone exceeds that of the entire US energy sector. This unprecedented infrastructure build‑out creates sustained multi-sector investment opportunities, making broad-based and low-cost ETFs a crucial investment tool.
Where’s the AI spending going?
- Semiconductors
- Data‑centre REITs
- Networking hardware
- Cloud infrastructure providers
- AI energy and cooling technologies
BlackRock notes that diversifying away from AI‑centred megacap tech is now an active bet against the primary engine of global growth, given how concentrated market leadership has become in AI‑aligned companies.
This means investors who stay underexposed to AI risk missing out on the companies powering global equity returns.
So, what are the best low-cost ETF options available to UK investors?
Lowest cost
| ETF | Fund size | TER (Total expense ratio) |
| Franklin AI, Metaverse and Blockchain UCITS ETF | £15m | 0.30% |
| Global X AI Semiconductor & Quantum UCITS ETF | £1m | 0.35% |
| Invesco Artificial Intelligence Enablers UCITS ETF | £18m | 0.35% |
| iShares AI Adopters & Applications UCITS ETF | £231m | 0.35% |
| iShares AI Infrastructure UCITS ETF | £292m | 0.35% |
| Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF | £5,189m | 0.35% |
Source: JustETF
It is important to remember that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results, and investment in specific themes, like AI, can be volatile, so a long-term perspective is sensible.
Best 1-year performance
| ETF | Fund size | Best 1-year performance |
| iShares AI Infrastructure UCITS ETF | £292m | 33.44% |
| ARK Artificial Intelligence & Robotics UCITS ETF | £258m | 28.09% |
| Global X Artificial Intelligence UCITS ETF | £31m | 21.72% |
| L&G Artificial Intelligence UCITS ETF | £970m | 20.83% |
| Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF | £5,189m | 19.06% |
Source: JustETF
It is also worth noting that most of these AI-themed ETFs have not been around very long, reflecting the nascent nature of the technology. Thiose with a 5-year track record are below.
Best 5-year performance
| Fund | Fund size | Best 5-year performance |
| Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF | £5,189m | 126.18% |
| L&G Artificial Intelligence UCITS ETF | £970m | 64.27% |
| WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence UCITS ETF | £752m | 47.43% |
Source: JustETF
Disclaimer: This content is for information only and is not investment advice. Always do your own research before investing. Click here to see full disclaimer.
