The artificial-intelligence (AI) boom has centered investor attention on chip designers like Nvidia Corporation (NVDA). But billionaire hedge fund manager Philippe Laffont is making a massive wager on a different part of the semiconductor ecosystem, the company that supplies the critical machines needed to manufacture the world’s most advanced chips.
In the first quarter, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management initiated a major new stake in ASML Holding N.V. (ASML), signaling growing conviction that the next phase of the AI arms race could increasingly benefit semiconductor infrastructure leaders rather than just chipmakers themselves. Coatue added 510K shares of ASML Holding valued at $655.4 million, while reducing its stake in Nvidia.