For much of the AI boom, betting on OpenAI's rise often meant buying Microsoft, the company's most prominent backer. But that may be changing.
According to a report published by AOL.com and The Globe and Mail under the headline "The OpenAI Trade Isn't Microsoft Anymore. Here's Where Smart Money May Be Looking," investors tracking OpenAI's momentum are increasingly turning their attention away from Microsoft and toward other parts of the market.
The same report appeared in coverage tied to AI chips, according to The Globe and Mail, suggesting that the semiconductor and broader hardware sector is among the areas drawing fresh interest from investors looking to capture the upside of OpenAI's growth.
The framing of "smart money" reflects a common shift in how markets respond to a fast-moving theme: as a story matures, the most obvious stock to own often gets crowded, and professional investors begin hunting for less crowded ways to express the same bet. In this case, that means looking beyond the single name most associated with OpenAI.
The sources here are headlines pointing to the same underlying analysis rather than detailed disclosures, so specific company names, price targets, and figures are not provided in the material available.
Why it matters: How investors choose to play OpenAI's growth shapes where billions of dollars flow across the AI economy, and a move beyond Microsoft signals that the market increasingly sees AI's value spreading across chips and other sectors rather than concentrating in one company.