MENA Newswire News Desk: NVIDIA continues to rank among the top blue-chip artificial intelligence (AI) stocks supported by billionaire investor Cliff Asness. According to the latest 13F filing for Q4 2024, Asness’s firm, AQR Capital Management, holds approximately $2.19 billion in NVIDIA equity, placing it among the firm’s most significant AI-focused investments. Cliff Asness, a well-respected figure in quantitative investing, has long been recognized for his disciplined use of value and momentum strategies.
His hedge fund, AQR Capital Management, has generated solid returns over recent years, posting gains of 43.5% in 2022, 18.4% in 2023, and 15.1% in 2024. The firm has increasingly embraced artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its investment process, using AI tools to support coding, trading signal generation, and portfolio optimization. Asness has acknowledged the growing power of these systems, even admitting that AI is outperforming traditional investment methodologies in some areas.
Nvidia’s AI leadership secures major backing from AQR Capital
NVIDIA’s central role in AQR’s portfolio reflects its technological leadership in the AI space. The company’s graphics processing units (GPUs), including the H100, H200, and the newly released Blackwell series, are considered essential components for training and deploying large-scale AI models. NVIDIA’s hardware powers data centers across industries, making it a core supplier to companies ramping up AI capabilities. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, NVIDIA reported $39.3 billion in total revenue, surpassing Wall Street estimates.
Nvidia’s data center division alone accounted for $35.6 billion, representing nearly 88% of overall revenue. That surge in revenue has been fueled by aggressive AI infrastructure spending from major technology companies. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon collectively increased their capital expenditures to $192 billion in 2024, up from $117 billion in 2023. A substantial portion of those funds was directed toward acquiring NVIDIA’s advanced AI chips. As a result, the company’s annual revenue has grown from $27 billion in 2023 to over $130 billion in 2024, while net income soared to nearly $73 billion from less than $5 billion the previous year.
Nvidia secures top position among AI stocks in hedge fund strategies
Despite this strong performance, 2025 has brought fresh challenges. NVIDIA shares are down roughly 25% from their January highs amid concerns that demand for its latest-generation chips may be peaking. Some market analysts, including hedge fund manager Doug Kass, have warned that excessive chip ordering in previous quarters may have inflated past earnings and could pressure future results. Kass previously predicted that NVIDIA’s rally would stall as inventory normalization took hold. Geopolitical pressures have added further complexity. U.S. export controls have sharply reduced NVIDIA’s sales to China, historically one of its key international markets.
According to company leadership, China now accounts for only 10% of NVIDIA’s data center revenue roughly half of its prior share. At the same time, competition is intensifying, with rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom accelerating development of custom AI processors. Nonetheless, NVIDIA remains a cornerstone in the AI investment landscape. It ranks second among AQR’s top AI holdings and is held by 223 hedge funds as of the latest quarter. While volatility persists, NVIDIA’s technological dominance and widespread enterprise adoption reinforce its position as one of the most influential AI stocks globally.
