(Yicai) May 15 -- Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund established by American investment legend Ray Dalio, increased its stakes in Chinese tech giants Alibaba Group Holding and Baidu in the first quarter, while also re-entering e-commerce leader JD.Com.

As of March 31, Bridgewater boosted its holdings in Tmall owner Alibaba to 5.7 million shares from around 255,000 shares in late December, with a market value of USD748.5 million, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. Alibaba thereby became Bridgewater's fourth-largest position, accounting for about 3.5 percent of its portfolio.

The Connecticut-based asset management firm also increased its exposure to search engine and artificial intelligence giant Baidu, with holdings rising to 2.1 million shares -- up significantly from 196,600 shares earlier -- valued at USD191.1 million.

Moreover, JD.Com attracted Bridgewater’s attention once again, three years after the American investor exited its previous position in the Alibaba rival amid a tightening regulatory environment. Bridgewater purchased 2.8 million shares of JD.Com, worth around USD114.6 million.

This year’s AI frenzy, led by DeepSeek, has spilled over into Chinese tech stocks. Alibaba [NYSE: BABA] saw a cumulative increase of 56 percent in the first quarter, while Baidu [NASDAQ: BIDU] and JD.Com [NASDAQ: JD] rose by 9.2 percent and 19.2 percent, respectively.

Bridgewater's buying spree was balanced by the shedding of overvalued US-listed tech stocks. Over the three months, the data-driven hedge fund cut its holdings in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, by 16 percent; reduced its stake in chipmaker Nvidia by 19 percent; and slashed its position in Facebook owner Meta by 31 percent.

Founded by Dalio in his two-bedroom apartment in 1975, Bridgewater prepared for global trade uncertainties by opening a major position in the gold exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). In late March, Bridgewater held USD318.8 million in GLD, or 1.5 percent of its portfolio, making it its sixth-largest holding.

As the quarter ended, Bridgewater’s portfolio was valued at USD21.6 billion, a decline of about 1 percent from the end of last year. During those months, the firm increased its exposure to more than 280 securities, entered over 120 new positions, reduced holdings in about 250 securities, and exited 150 assets, according to the filings.

Editor: Emmi Laine