Semiconductor and AI hardware stocks surged, hedge fund performance in April hit a multi-year high.

Hedge funds have sniffed out investment opportunities in chip manufacturers and other artificial intelligence hardware companies early, and this bet has just helped stock-picking funds achieve their best monthly performance in over twenty years. Hedge funds such as Point 72 under Steve Cohen, Whale Rock Capital, and Seligman Investments all achieved impressive profits in April, partially benefiting from the sharp rise in the stock prices of semiconductor and related equipment manufacturers. The industry index compiled by research firm Pivotal Path showed that April was the best performing month for stock-picking funds since December 1999, with a monthly increase of 6.5%. Sources revealed that Whale Rock Capital, managed by Alex Sacerdote, saw its public equity portfolio surge by around 39% in April, with holdings in companies such as SanDisk, SK Hynix (a Korean memory chip manufacturer), and Kioxia (a Japanese memory chip manufacturer) being the main sources of profit. Hedge funds currently have the highest overweight position in the semiconductor sector in the past decade. Data from Morgan Stanley shows that the net allocation to semiconductors in hedge fund portfolios was only 5.5% last year, but has now risen to 20%. The bank's calculations show that nearly two-thirds of the profits from long positions in hedge fund portfolios last month were contributed by individual stocks in the AI industry chain.