China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund, announced a robust 2024 performance, reflecting the fund’s strengthened asset allocation strategy and resilience amid a complex global environment.
Despite a complex and rapidly changing external environment, CIC achieved a net profit of $140.638 billion in 2024, an increase of about 30% from $107.857 billion in 2023, and investment returns rose sharply by about 40% to $130.221 billion.
As of December 31, 2024, CIC’s total assets stood at $1.57 trillion, with net assets of $1.37 trillion; since its establishment, the cumulative annualized net return calculated in US dollars stands at 6.39%.
Given CIC’s long-term investment orientation, the board has established a 10-year investment evaluation cycle. Over the past decade, the annualized net return on overseas investments in U.S. dollars reached 6.92%, surpassing the performance target by 61 basis points and increasing approximately 30 basis points from the previous year.
In terms of investment returns, CIC posted $91.917 billion in 2022, $92.461 billion in 2023, and $130.221 billion in 2024, with the 40% surge in 2024 standing out. The report highlights that CIC proactively navigated a complex market environment, continuously enhanced its asset allocation management framework, and focused on building a more resilient, higher-quality, and sustainable “CIC portfolio.”
In CIC’s overseas investment portfolio, public-market equities accounted for 34.65%, fixed income 15.53%, alternative assets 48.49%, and cash products and others 1.33% combined. The shares of public-market equities and alternative assets increased slightly but remained below 50%.
As of the end of 2024, CIC’s overseas public-market equity portfolio was led by information technology, which accounted for 25.85%, up about 3.94 percentage points from 2023. Financials and consumer discretionary followed at 16.41% and 11.85%, respectively. Healthcare and industrials each made up less than 10%, communication services increased to 9.26%, while staples, energy, materials, utilities, and real estate each ranged between 1.66% and 4.91%.
The report emphasizes that in public-market equities, CIC reinforced a performance-driven approach and optimized the scale of related strategies. It enhanced planning for proprietary investments, strategically increasing its proprietary investment efforts. The fund also strengthened forward-looking research and actively pursued thematic investment opportunities, concentrating on key regions and sectors to refine its strategic structure.
In the fixed-income segment of CIC’s overseas portfolio, as of the end of 2024, developed-market sovereign bonds accounted for 64.40%, down 1.62 percentage points. Emerging-market sovereign bonds made up 6.39%, corporate bonds 22.86%, and structured products and others 6.35%, with all three categories seeing slight increases.
According to the report, CIC continued to optimize and adjust its bond portfolio, improving refined management of entrusted portfolios and enhancing proprietary management capacity for developed-market government bonds. It focused on the positioning of hedge-fund allocations, continually refined hedge-fund investment methodologies, and built hedge-fund portfolios more aligned with the company’s allocation needs. It also thoroughly reviewed multi-asset risk allocation strategies and actively advanced proprietary portfolio optimization.
In domestic investment operations, CIC’s wholly owned subsidiary, Central Huijin, conducts equity investments in key state-owned financial institutions under authorization from the State Council. As of the end of 2024, Central Huijin directly held equity stakes in 19 controlled or partially owned institutions. The state-owned financial capital under its entrusted management reached RMB 6.87 trillion, up 6.44% from the beginning of the year.
Chairman Zhang Qingsong noted that 2024 was a pivotal year for implementing CIC’s 2023–2025 strategic plan. In line with corporate governance procedures, the company completed a smooth transition of key management personnel. The new leadership team will continue to guide employees in upholding integrity and innovation, fulfilling their responsibilities, responding prudently to changing conditions, and advancing reform and development while ensuring stability.
Since 2024, CIC has implemented a series of personnel adjustments. The current leadership comprises Party Secretary and Chairman Zhang Qingsong, officially appointed in November 2024; Deputy Party Secretary, Vice Chairman, and General Manager and Chief Investment Officer Liu Haoling; and Deputy Party Secretary and Executive Director Liu Jinbo. In the same month that Zhang assumed office, CIC’s former Deputy General Manager and Deputy Chief Investment Officer Qi Bin was promoted to Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
CIC was established in September 2007 with an initial capital of $200 billion, raised through the Ministry of Finance’s issuance of RMB 1.55 trillion in special treasury bonds. Its founding mission is to diversify China’s foreign-exchange reserve investments and maximize shareholder value within acceptable risk levels, supporting China’s macroeconomic development and financial reform. CIC has three subsidiaries: CIC International Co., Ltd., CIC Capital Corporation, and Central Huijin. The first two focus on overseas investment activities, while Central Huijin manages domestic investment operations.