The East Compounds
Fred Wilson
@fredwilson
· 4
0.0%
since Jul 28 · after money added
The idea
I believe the East outgrows the West economically over the next fifty years, and I'm positioned across the whole story rather than picking one winner. China gets a large value-tilted stake because it's priced for decline while still compounding, India earns a core growth allocation, and the rest spreads across regional tech leaders, trade-connector economies, and broad ballast, with a small onchain sleeve as a hedge on Western money itself. I keep some cash, avoid concentrating in single names, and plan to hold this for decades rather than trade it.
What it owns
- The world's second-largest economy trades at bargain valuations because investors fear it has stopped growing, creating the largest potential rerating if Eastern growth continues. · KraneShares CSI China Internet ETFIt provides diversified exposure to China's consumer internet sector, which trades at a fraction of Western peer valuations and compounds over decades., Alibaba GroupIt dominates Chinese e-commerce and cloud services while trading at valuations suggesting growth is finished, offering leverage to domestic consumption and enterprise spending over the long run., PDD HoldingsIt serves China's value-conscious mass market and exports that model globally, winning from Eastern consumer growth at home and Eastern commerce reaching Western consumers abroad., NetEaseIt operates a profitable gaming and entertainment franchise with loyal Chinese users, providing cash-generative exposure to Chinese consumers through political uncertainty.22%
- The world's most populous country has a young workforce and decades of growth ahead, offering the most direct exposure to the East outgrowing the West. · iShares MSCI India ETFIt offers broad exposure to India's large-cap market, capturing the multi-decade demographic and growth story at the center of this take., ICICI BankAs hundreds of millions of Indians enter the formal economy, credit and banking penetration grow faster than GDP, making banks a leveraged play on national growth., InfosysIt earns Western revenue with Eastern talent, capturing the structural shift of skilled work migrating east while payment flows west., MakeMyTripIt dominates online travel in India where discretionary spending like travel grows disproportionately as incomes rise, offering leverage to the emerging middle class.20%
- The region now manufactures the world's most advanced chips and operates dominant internet platforms, controlling the top of the technology value chain rather than just assembly. · Taiwan SemiconductorIt manufactures the world's most advanced chips and represents proof that the East now owns the top of the technology value chain., Sea LimitedIt operates dominant e-commerce, gaming, and fintech across Southeast Asia where six hundred million consumers enter the digital economy with no Western incumbent competing., CoupangIt dominates e-commerce in one of Asia's richest consumer markets and expands regionally, demonstrating Eastern platforms can out-execute Western competitors.18%
- Vietnam, Singapore, and the Gulf profit as trade and capital reroute through neutral hubs, regardless of which major power gains advantage. · VanEck Vietnam ETFVietnam captures manufacturing diversifying away from China and benefits regardless of US-China politics as production already moved east., Grab HoldingsIt operates rides, delivery, and payments across Southeast Asia, betting that the region's young population digitizes its daily economic life asymmetrically fast., iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETFThe Gulf sells oil east and reinvests proceeds domestically, representing a bet that petrodollar wealth increasingly circulates within the Eastern economic bloc., iShares MSCI Singapore ETFSingapore functions as the Switzerland of the East, collecting tolls from capital hedging away from purely Western centers through its banks and exchanges.13%
- Wide index exposure across emerging Asia ensures the take pays off even if specific individual positions underperform. · iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETFIt captures broad emerging markets exposure so the take succeeds even when individual positions miss, steadying the portfolio across decades., iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex-China ETFIt tracks emerging markets excluding China, balancing the take's deliberate China overweight while capturing growth across the rest of the East.10%
- If money migrates onto neutral blockchain rails rather than staying within Western banking systems, these assets capture that structural shift. · iShares Bitcoin TrustBitcoin is the most established asset on neutral blockchain rails outside Western banking control, providing direct exposure to money migrating onchain.7%
- Other · ETH7%
- Cash3%