What AI Stocks Are Hedge Funds Buying in 2026?

Every quarter, institutional investment managers with over $100 million in assets must disclose their holdings to the SEC via Form 13F. These filings give retail investors a rare window into what the smartest money on Wall Street is actually buying — with a 45-day delay.

We track 400+ funds that have meaningful exposure (10%+ of portfolio) to AI, semiconductor, and hardware stocks. Here's what the latest round of filings reveals about where institutional money is flowing in 2026.

Top 10 AI Stocks by Whale Sentiment

Our Whale Sentiment Score combines net institutional buying, number of funds holding, and quarter-over-quarter ownership changes into a single 0–100 metric. Here are the stocks scoring highest this quarter:

NVIDIA ($NVDA) continues to dominate with a sentiment score of 94 — the highest across our entire universe. Over 300 tracked funds now hold positions, with net buying of +14.2M shares this quarter. Citadel Advisors alone added 2.45M shares, a 45% increase.

The surprise on this list is CoreWeave ($CRWV), the recently-IPO'd AI cloud infrastructure company that saw 12.4M net shares bought with institutions racing to build positions. Constellation Energy ($CEG) and Vistra ($VST) also score highly — reflecting the "AI power trade" thesis that data center energy demand is a multi-year tailwind.

5 Emerging AI Stocks Institutions Are Quietly Accumulating

These stocks have less than 50% institutional ownership but are seeing the fastest quarter-over-quarter ownership increases — a signal that funds are building new positions early.

CoreWeave ($CRWV) leads with an 8.6 percentage point jump in institutional ownership — unsurprising given its IPO hype and AI infrastructure positioning. Oklo ($OKLO), the nuclear microreactor company backed by Sam Altman, is another standout with +6.8% ownership growth as funds bet on the AI data center power thesis.

SoundHound AI ($SOUN) and POET Technologies ($POET) represent the speculative end of the AI trade — smaller companies where a few large fund entries can move the ownership needle dramatically.

Which Funds Have the Highest AI Exposure?

Not all institutional money is equal. Some funds are making concentrated bets on AI while others have modest allocations. Here are the top 5 funds by AI portfolio exposure:

Light Street Capital leads with 64.8% AI exposure and a stunning +72.1% one-year return. Whale Rock Capital (62.1%) and ARK Invest (58.4%) round out the top three — though ARK's negative 3-year average return (-4.2%) shows that high AI exposure doesn't always mean consistent returns.

The pattern is clear: smaller, tech-focused funds are making the most aggressive AI bets, while mega-funds like Capital Group ($2.6T AUM) and AQR ($98.4B) keep AI exposure below 15%.

How to Use 13F Data in Your Own Research

13F filings are a powerful research tool, but they come with important caveats:

• 45-day delay — filings are due 45 days after quarter end, so positions may have changed by the time you see them.
• Long positions only — 13F doesn't disclose short positions, options strategies, or hedges. A fund may hold NVDA long but be hedged with puts.
• Look for consensus — a single fund buying a stock is noise. When 5+ elite funds open new positions simultaneously, that's signal. Use our Consensus Engine to find these.
• Track changes, not snapshots — the most valuable signal is direction: is a fund increasing or decreasing a position? A 45% increase by Citadel tells you more than the absolute share count.

Methodology

We screen every 13F filed with the SEC and identify funds where 10% or more of their portfolio is allocated to AI, semiconductor, and hardware companies. This quarter, 400+ funds met our threshold. Our Whale Sentiment Score weights three factors equally: net institutional shares bought, quarter-over-quarter change in number of holding funds, and change in total institutional ownership percentage.

All data is sourced from SEC EDGAR filings and reflects end-of-quarter positions. This analysis is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.