Goldman Sachs: 4 Must-Buy Chip Stocks, And A Few You Should Forget

With over $350 billion already funneled into artificial intelligence infrastructure, Goldman Sachs says the next phase of chip investing hinges on performance, cost-efficiency, and software breadth, setting the stage for new market leaders and fresh laggards.

Goldman Sachs analyst James Schneider sees the AI investment cycle transitioning from blind spending to early monetization, driving both opportunities and shakeouts across the semiconductor space.

In a new note shared Friday, Goldman rated seven top semiconductor stocks and introduced a “barbell” investing strategy: buy two types of companies. First, the performance leaders with strong software ecosystems. Second, the low-cost chipmakers helping companies run AI at scale.

"Although monetization has been elusive, we see early signs of incremental revenue and much clearer evidence of cost takeout to justify these investments," Schneider said.

Four stocks earned a Buy rating: Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO), Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS) and Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS). Goldman is Neutral on Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:ARM) and Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL).

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