Top 10 AI Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Philippe Laffont

In this article, we will highlight the Top 10 AI Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Philippe Laffont.

First-quarter earnings reports eased concerns about a potential artificial intelligence bubble, particularly as tech companies continued to commit heavily toward AI infrastructure. Nevertheless, some AI plays have remained under pressure, pulling back by double-digit percentage points.

Wedbush Dan Ives has already echoed that stocks are being treated as if in an “air pocket” before we find out whether the massive artificial intelligence capex will pay off.

“Microsoft and Meta are being treated by investors like they are wearing winter jackets to the beach in the summer. Traders are treating Microsoft and Meta like they are bear market names that cannot be owned.”

According to Ives, there’s no need for alarm, as we are in a 6- to 12-month air pocket in which hyperscalers are likely to spend $700 billion on AI data center construction. Costs are expected to slow over the coming years as AI consumer hardware, physical AI deployments, and enterprise use cases scale.

Billionaire Philippe Laffont is bullish on the AI trade despite recent concerns. According to the Coatue Management founder, agentic AI is “one of the bigger ideas” expected to drive market growth. Laffont predicts a $10 trillion company within the next 15 years amid the AI boom.

The billionaire investor is especially bullish about opportunities in the semi-cap corner of the tech sector that provide critical components for chip fabrication plants.

“If I’m a supplier to the fabs, I don’t need to make an exact bet on which of the chips is going to win,” he stated. “That’s sort of the reason why we own the semi-cap stocks.”

Semi-cap stands out partly because they build and supply the machines, tools, and systems upon which chip fabrication plants rely to build their AI-enabling hardware.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the top 10 AI stocks to buy according to billionaire Philippe Laffont.

Top 10 AI Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Philippe Laffont

Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management

Our Methodology

To compile a list of the top 10 AI stocks to buy according to billionaire Philippe Laffont, we analyzed Coatue Management’s investment Q1 2026 13F portfolio. From the list, we focused on companies at the heart of AI innovation and solutions, and spearheading the revolution. We also settled on stocks that are popular among elite hedge funds owing to their AI credentials. Finally, we ranked the stocks based on Coatue Management’s equity stakes.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research shows we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Insider Monkey’s quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 599.2% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 372 percentage points (see more details here).

Top AI Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Philippe Laffont

10. Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 154

Coatue Management Equity Stake: $56.06 Million

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is one of the top AI Stocks to buy according to billionaire Philippe Laffont. On June 29, Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was hit with a class action lawsuit over claims that it is restricting DRAM supply to inflate prices.

The private class-action lawsuit in the US also names Samsung and SK Hynix for allegedly contributing to memory prices reaching historical highs amid ongoing shortages, as demand continues to outpace supply. In the lawsuit, the fillers are demanding compensation from the three companies for allegedly gouging prices by creating artificial shortages of memory.

There is a global RAM shortage driven by AI data center demand that’s forcing the likes of Micron to raise prices. Apple has already had to raise device prices by as much as $200 due to the shortages. Micron has also had to lock 16 companies into five-year contracts, as building new fabs takes 5+ years and costs upward of $10 billion.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) manufactures the foundational memory and data storage hardware required to power artificial intelligence. Because AI models ingest and process colossal amounts of information, high-performance computing heavily relies on Micron’s specialized chips to prevent processing bottlenecks.

9. QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 71

Coatue Management Equity Stake: $178.65 Million

QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) is one of the top AI stocks to buy according to billionaire Philippe Laffont. On June 29, Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh reiterated a Neutral rating on QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) and hiked the price target to $210 from $170. The new price target represents significant upside potential as the stock is trading at about $184 a share.

The Mizuho analyst remains bullish on the company’s long-term prospects, citing burgeoning opportunities in data centers and auto ramps. The strong demand is expected to offset potential headwinds in the company’s consumer handsets segment.

The sentiments come on the heels of Qualcomm asserting it is positioned to generate $15 billion in sales from its data center business by 2029. The robust revenue growth will come as the company moves beyond core smartphone chips. Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala expects the data center business to generate $5 billion in revenue in fiscal 2027, with $1 billion from new custom chip customers.

Qualcomm expects more than $40 billion in revenue from chips outside the smartphone stronghold by 2029, up from the previous target of $22 billion.

QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) is expanding from a smartphone chipmaker into a platform provider for “edge” AI (processing AI directly on devices) and data center AI infrastructure. Their AI strategy focuses heavily on power efficiency, real-time agentic AI, and software ecosystems.

8. AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 91

Coatue Management Equity Stake: $513.42 Million

Applovin Corp (NASDAQ: APP) is one of the top AI stocks to buy according to billionaire Philippe Laffont. On June 29, Raymond James initiated coverage of Applovin Corp (NASDAQ: APP) with a Strong Buy and a $640 price target. The price target represents significant upside as the stock is trading at about $515 a share.

The research firm remains confident in the company’s long-term prospects, driven by its expansion into e-commerce advertising. It expects the company to deliver long-term growth that could lead to positive estimate revisions. Similarly, Raymond James expects Applovin’s core advertising business to deliver 20% to 30% growth.

The robust advertising growth would come as Applovin has emerged as a leading mobile in-app advertising platform. Reinforcement learning and periodic enhancements to the Axon model are also expected to drive growth in the advertising business.

Amid the advertising business’s growth, Raymond James expects AppLovin to achieve revenue growth above 40%, EBITDA margins of over 80%, and cash flow conversion of about 100%.

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) is an AI-powered technology platform that helps businesses advertise, monetize, and publish mobile apps. It operates an ecosystem in which developers use its tools to acquire users, while advertisers use its platform to reach over a billion consumers globally.

7. ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ:ASML)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 133

Coatue Management Equity Stake: $655.44 Million

ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ:ASML) is one of the top AI stocks to buy according to billionaire Philippe Laffont. On June 30, Susquehanna reiterated a Positive rating on ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ: ASML) and raised the price target to €2,350 from €1,475.

The positive stance and price target hike follow channel checks that affirm an upward revision in ASML Holding’s Supply Chain Equipment order backlog, which now extends to one year. Earlier in the year, the company reiterated that its order backlog stood at €38.8 billion. The massive order backlog stems from the company being the only maker of EUV lithography systems, which are essential for creating the tiny circuitry of advanced chips.

The company remains well-positioned to capitalize on the wafer fabrication equipment market, which is expected to reach $250 billion by 2028. According to Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini, ASML’s backlog strength should be clear in the upcoming July earnings season.

Meanwhile, BofA analyst Didier Scemama reiterated a Buy rating on ASML and hiked the price target to €1,921 from €1,710 on June 4. According to the analyst, the company’s lithography capacity is poised to exceed 90 units as it reduces lead times and improves assembly efficiency.

ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ:ASML) builds the essential photolithography machines that enable artificial intelligence. By exclusively producing the equipment required to print the microscopic circuits on advanced logic and memory chips, it serves as the foundational hardware monopoly powering the entire global AI hardware supply chain.

6. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 282

Coatue Management Equity Stake: $918.03 Million

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the top AI stocks to buy according to billionaire Philippe Laffont. On June 30, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) confirmed the general availability of Anthropic’s Claude models in Foundry. Organizations can now run Claude within their Azure environments while leveraging Microsoft authentication, billing, and governance controls.

Claude Models in Microsoft Foundry are hosted in Azure infrastructure powered by Nvidia’s GB300 Blackwell Ultra GPUs. The deployments follow a partnership among Microsoft, Nvidia, and Anthropic, covering Claude’s availability on Nvidia-accelerated computing.

Enterprises will be able to build through the existing Microsoft Azure account. Teams will also build agentic applications that run their work with Claude in an environment they already operate in. It is an important step for customers looking to build agentic applications and plan to move from AI experimentation to production.

Microsoft acknowledges that Anthropic remains the seller and operator of Claude models in Microsoft Foundry. It also acts as an independent data processor for prompts and outputs. Foundry Agent Service will also use Claude as a reasoning core for multi-step planning, tool use, and task execution across various enterprise systems.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) integrates artificial intelligence across its entire business ecosystem. Their AI operations span three primary pillars: AI Infrastructure & Cloud Services, Enterprise & Personal Productivity, and Fundamental AI Research.

While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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