Where to Invest in AI in 2026: A Guide for Advisors

ETF.com Staff

Fri, August 7, 2026 at 6:00 AM GMT+3 5 min read

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Artificial intelligence has moved from buzzword to the defining investment theme of the decade — and clients are asking their advisors one question above all: where should I invest in AI in 2026?

At the Future Proof conference, Bloomberg News reporter Alexandra Semenova put that question to three experts with very different vantage points: David Wright, head of quantitative investments at Pictet Asset Management; Joe Wilson, managing director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and manager of the JTEK tech ETF; and Gina Sanchez, CEO of Chantico. Here are the key takeaways from their 44-minute discussion on AI investment opportunities, AI stocks, and portfolio construction for 2026.

The AI Investment Ecosystem: Five Layers of Opportunity

Sanchez mapped the AI trade into distinct layers that advisors can use to structure client portfolios:

AI chip stocks — the foundational semiconductor play (Nvidia, Broadcom)
Cloud infrastructure — the hyperscalers already dominating portfolios (Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet)
AI services and software — Palantir, ServiceNow, Adobe
Energy and data center cooling — an overlooked play driven by strained electrical grids
Late adopters and applications — industrials, real estate, and the application layer now emerging in private equity and venture capital

Hyperscaler Capex: A $1 Trillion AI Spending Wave

Four hyperscalers — Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta — are projected to spend roughly $650 billion on AI capex this year, about triple the level of just a few years ago. Wilson expects that figure to reach $1 trillion within three years, though he cautioned the current "hyperbuild" phase won't grow in a straight line.

One structural insight for stock pickers: Alphabet is the only company that owns its own chips, large language model, cloud infrastructure, and proprietary data. Wilson also revealed he owns no Apple in his tech portfolio, calling the company "dead silent on AI" — though its non-AI profile could make it a defensive holding if AI sentiment cools.

Are Investors Underallocated to AI? Probably Not

All three panelists agreed on a counterintuitive point: most investors already have more AI exposure than they think through broad index funds — including hidden exposure via industrials, energy stocks, and analog semiconductors. As Wilson put it, eventually "every company is an AI company," just as every company became an internet company.

The opportunity for advisors isn't adding generic AI exposure — it's identifying specific sub-themes, like the AI energy trade, that broad indexes underweight.

AI Bubble Warning Signs: Is the AI Trade Overheated?

Is AI a bubble in 2026? The panel's froth checklist:

Valuation math vs. the dotcom era: Sanchez, a portfolio manager during the 1999 boom, recalled that Cisco's price once implied growth larger than Europe's entire GDP. Today's AI valuations are elevated but not yet at that extreme.
Earnings revisions without price response: Nvidia's forward earnings estimates rose roughly 100% in six months while the stock stayed flat — a classic sign of over-ownership, per Wilson.
Speculative spillover: froth in quantum computing stocks and questionable "AI-ticker" names.
Falling compute costs: Wright, an AI practitioner, noted his models now train in a day instead of a month — efficiency gains that could mean total AI spending undershoots expectations, or shifts from training to inference with different beneficiaries.

Best Ways to Get AI Exposure: ETFs, Active Funds, or Private Markets?

Broad diversification (Wright): the index does the heavy lifting; the AI trade rotates across industries, styles, and countries too quickly for most investors to chase.
Active management with an equal-weighted benchmark (Wilson): flexibility to classify companies like Robinhood, Figure, and Tempus AI as tech — and to avoid pure AI-themed funds that may fade as AI becomes a utility.
Private markets (Sanchez): the AI application layer lives in venture capital and private equity, where the 2025 "venture winter" has left stronger, Darwinian survivors.

AI and Software Stocks: The Operating Leverage Test

Wilson delivered the panel's sharpest critique: software stocks have underperformed semiconductors for a decade, and CEOs should stop defending their AI relevance on TV and start showing AI-driven operating leverage — slower R&D hiring and better GAAP margins. He contrasted Salesforce's best-ever 19% GAAP operating margin with Texas Instruments' 35–50%+.

Sanchez and Wright pushed back on the AI job-replacement narrative: coding tools like Claude Code supercharge senior engineers rather than replace them, and companies that gut junior talent pipelines risk a weaker foundation of future expertise.

The Most Underowned AI Opportunity: Healthcare

The consensus pick for the biggest underowned AI beneficiary over the next five years: healthcare. Records management, billing, insurance, diagnostics, and AI drug discovery (including DeepMind's protein-folding breakthroughs) all stand to gain. Sanchez added sectors undergoing private equity roll-ups — including wealth management itself — where technology stacks determine which consolidations succeed.

AI Investing in 2026: What's Overestimated vs. Underestimated

Overestimated: the smoothness of the AI trade (expect volatility, and possibly a current Mag 7 name dropping out within three years); the idea that every quant fund will become an AI fund; expectations of flawless AI output today.

Underestimated: how much AI empowers users and accelerates learning; and how dramatically AI lowers the barriers to starting a business — pointing to small-business job creation, not just enterprise job cuts.

FAQ: Investing in AI in 2026

What are the best AI stocks to watch in 2026?
The panel highlighted chip makers (Nvidia, Broadcom), cloud hyperscalers (Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet), AI services companies (Palantir, ServiceNow, Adobe), and overlooked energy and cooling plays supporting data center growth.

Is AI a bubble in 2026?
Panelists say valuations are elevated but not yet at dotcom extremes. Warning signs to watch: earnings upgrades that no longer move stock prices, and speculation in unproven AI-adjacent names.

Should investors buy AI-themed ETFs?
The panel was cautious: narrow AI thematic funds may underperform as AI fades into the background of every business. Broad diversification, flexible active strategies, or targeted sub-themes like energy may serve clients better.

Which sector benefits most from AI next?
Healthcare was the unanimous answer — from billing and records to diagnostics and drug discovery.

Based on the Future Proof conference panel "Where to Invest in AI in 2026: Practical Portfolio Ideas for Advisors" featuring David Wright (Pictet Asset Management), Joe Wilson (J.P. Morgan Asset Management), and Gina Sanchez (Chantico), moderated by Alexandra Semenova (Bloomberg News).