Nvidia Stock Sits in 82% of Portfolios, But Hedge Funds Are Making Other AI Bets

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) is the most widely owned semiconductor stock in America. That is not the same thing as the most crowded one.

Eighty-two percent of U.S. active fund managers held Nvidia at the end of August, according to BofA Global Research’s latest semiconductor ownership study.

But the size of those positions tells a different story.

Nvidia’s portfolio weight among traditional long-only managers was just 1.17 times its S&P 500 weighting at August’s end.

In simple terms, managers own Nvidia almost universally but overweight it modestly compared the benchmark.

Where hedge funds concentrated their bets was somewhere else entirely.

Most-Owned Chip Stocks Among US Funds

"NVDA remains most-owned semi, ahead of AVGO, then AMD (51%)," BofA semiconductor analyst Vivek Arya said.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is owned by 78% of managers and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) sits in 51% of portfolios.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) is the outlier in that list. It carries the fifth-largest market capitalization in the group and ranks only 19th by ownership.

The table below shows ownership of selected semiconductor and AI infrastructure stocks among U.S. active managers.

Memory Ownership Is Still Expanding

The broader active-fund data adds another piece of evidence.

SanDisk Inc ownership jumped almost nine percentage points in August to 24%, the largest monthly increase among individual stocks tracked.

Micron Technology Inc. ownership rose approximately six percentage points to 50%, making it the fourth-most-owned semiconductor stock.

Those increases show memory attracting a wider investor audience, even as Nvidia remains the most common holding.

Where Hedge Funds Are Betting

Splitting the same universe by investor type is where the picture gets genuinely interesting.

"Hedge funds more overweight STX, TER, SNDK, SNPS, ANET, CIEN, LRCX, APH vs. LOs," BofA semiconductor analysts said.

Seagate shows the clearest divide among these five names. Long-only managers held less than its benchmark weight, while hedge funds held more than three times that weight.

That suggests different preferences within the AI trade.

Also SanDisk stood out with hedge fund positions at 2.57 times its S&P 500 weight, compared with just 1.04 times among long-only managers.

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