existWall StreetIn the investment field, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren BuffettBuffettWarren Buffett is a unique investment tycoon. Since taking over Berkshire in 1965, the cumulative return on the Class A shares of the company he manages has reached 50,284,29%, as of the close of July 10.
Buffett's recipe for success primarily involves buying shares of well-known, time-tested businesses with clear competitive advantages. While this strategy focuses primarily on value stocks, growth stocks occasionally appear in the $44 billion, 44-company portfolio that Buffett and his team manage.
Surprisingly, Warren Buffett and his team are betting big on the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, at least to some extent.
Artificial intelligence involves the use of software and systems to perform tasks that humans would normally supervise or perform. These systems learn and evolve over time, becoming more adept at tasks or learning new skills, which is why artificial intelligence has broad practical application.
As of the close of trading on July 10, Warren Buffett had approximately 46% ($188.8 billion) of the $410 billion portfolio managed by Berkshire Hathaway invested in four top artificial intelligence companies.
Apple: $183.9 billion (44.81% of invested assets)
In June, at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple introduced what it calls “Apple Intelligence.” While Apple has relied on various AI solutions for years, it laid out plans to bring a chatbot solution powered by ChatGPT to its operating system and make its voice assistant Siri more intuitive.
BYD: $2 billion (0.5% of invested assets)
New vehicles increasingly rely on technology and artificial intelligence to improve driver safety and comfort. For example, BYD launched its Xuanji architecture in mid-January, which is designed to help drivers use automatic parking and other advanced driver assistance technologies. BYD is also working with Chinese regulators to test Level 3 autonomous driving on high-speed roads in Shenzhen.
Amazon: $2 billion (0.5% of invested assets)
While most investors are familiar with Amazon due to its dominant online market, the cloud infrastructure services platform Amazon Web Services (AWS) is arguably its most important operating unit. Enterprises in AWS can rely on generative AI solutions to deploy virtual chatbots or assistants and build/scale large language models (LLMs).
Snowflake: $842 million (0.2% of invested assets)
Similar to Amazon, Snowflake was added to Berkshire's portfolio by one of Buffett's investing "deputies," Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
Last year, Snowflake acquired Neeva, a company that uses generative AI solutions in the cloud to improve search. Snowflake plans to rely on a variety of generative AI solutions in its data cloud to enable its customers to easily analyze data and build, train, and deploy LLMs.