While the US is becoming an increasingly chaotic force in geopolitics, and valuations around its technology companies are called into question, CFS Super chief executive Kelly Power said investors going against these forces would be fighting a losing battle.

On the sidelines of the historic Australian Superannuation Investment Summit in the US, which wrapped up in New York City last Friday following a trip to Silicon Valley and Washington DC, Power, who oversees the management of almost $150 billion of retirement assets, shared her reflection with Colin Tate, managing director and founder of Investment Magazine publisher Conexus Financial.

“Betting against it [AI] and betting against the US, you would be crazy,” she said.

This is in stark contrast to the pivot of many asset owners away from the world’s largest economy, including Australia’s Future Fund, following US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” last year. The Future Fund chair Greg Combet said investors should start demanding a higher return on investments due to US assets now having a riskier profile.

While some investors chose to or considered reallocating a portion of their developed markets exposures to regions like Europe in the immediate tariff aftermath last year, many other asset owners have expressed the view that there are limited alternatives to the US market in the long-term that offer the same liquidity, maturity and depth.

There are also areas like US infrastructure where private capital has only played a limited role so far, but Power said there is a “permanent shift” in the space as conversations during the summit with locally based asset managers and US state government officials indicate there is significant appetite to bring more private investors into the fold.

BlackRock figures released this month suggest that the nation will need US$10 trillion ($14 trillion) by 2033 to build AI-driven infrastructure, and modernise roads, railways and ports.

Power said her first thing back in CFS Super’s office will be thrashing out private market ideas with CIO Jonathan Armitage and head of private markets Chloé Brayne. The fund only has an approximately five per cent allocation to private markets at the moment, a small portfolio compared to some of its profit-to-member super peers, and is in a prime position to take advantage of new opportunities.

“I don’t feel like we’ve missed out on anything [by not allocating more to private markets]. I actually think that we’ve managed the portfolio incredibly well over the past few years, and you can see that in terms of our returns. What we have now is a really great opportunity, given our low allocation, to consider what’s next,” she said.

“I feel very confident about the exposure that we have in the US, the investments we’re making, and the steps that we’re making into the US.

“Every four years, we’ll see some form of change, and we need to manage that through our portfolios. We need to invest through that.

“Obviously, you consider anything relating to broader geopolitical risk, and that certain politicians at certain periods of times are a part of your risk process, but this [superannuation] is a long-term investment, so we really need to keep that perspective.”