Wall Street investors say Big Tech is the best way to invest in A.I., CNBC survey shows

Published Fri, Jun 30 202310:41 AM EDTUpdated Fri, Jun 30 20231:26 PM EDT

Patricia Martell @/in/patricia-martell-cnbc/@PatriciaMartell

Most Wall Street investors believe the best way to take advantage of the artificial intelligence boom is to buy Big Tech stocks, according to the new CNBC Delivering Alpha investor survey. We polled about 400 chief investment officers, equity strategists, portfolio managers and CNBC contributors who manage money about where they stood on the markets for the third quarter and forward. The survey was conducted over the last week. Forty-seven percent of respondents said big-cap tech companies are the best way to invest in AI, while 37% believe there's too much hype around the space. Only 16% think up-and-coming stocks could be the biggest winners. The growing interest in next-generation AI technology has been dominating headlines this year. Buzzy chatbot ChatGPT became an instant phenomenon globally, becoming the fastest-growing software in history. The buying frenzy around AI-related stocks pushed the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite up 30% this year. Asked which large-cap tech stock will be the biggest winner, half the respondents said Nvidia . The chipmaker has been at the center of an AI craze on Wall Street. The stock has rallied more than 188% this year, topping a $1 trillion market cap. Investors piled into the AI enabler after the company recently made a shockingly strong forecast of future demand. About a third of the investors polled believe Microsoft could be the largest beneficiary. Microsoft has announced a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI, marking the third phase of their partnership. Some also think Alphabet could win big in this space. Alphabet's Google unit recently announced it will bring AI features to its signature search engine to turn complex queries into simple answers by combining results from multiple sources. Alphabet's AI capabilities and ambition attracted buying from big investors recently, including Stanley Druckenmiller 's Duquesne Family Office, Dan Loeb's Third Point and Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management.