For much of the AI boom, investors had a simple playbook: buy Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA). Then came the second wave. Investors broadened their focus to hyperscalers such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) , whose massive AI spending has fueled demand for Nvidia's chips.
Now some investors are looking even deeper into the AI ecosystem.
According to Josh Rubin, client portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, investor interest is increasingly expanding beyond Nvidia and AI platform companies into other parts of the supply chain, particularly in Asia.
That shift could create a new group of AI winners.
The AI Supply Chain Trade Expands
"The AI trade" has become one of Wall Street's most crowded themes, but Rubin argues the story continues to broaden as investors gain confidence that AI spending is not a short-lived trend.
"There continues to be greater clarity on the duration of AI-related investment, and broader investor interest beyond Nvidia and AI platform companies or hyperscalers into more parts of the supply chain," Rubin said.
The reasoning is straightforward. While Nvidia remains the face of the AI boom, every AI chip requires a vast network of suppliers providing manufacturing, memory, packaging, networking, power and cooling infrastructure.
As AI spending continues to surge, many of those suppliers are seeing earnings growth that increasingly reflects improving business fundamentals rather than speculative enthusiasm.
The Companies Behind Nvidia
One of the most critical players is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE: TSM), which manufactures Nvidia's advanced AI processors and provides the sophisticated packaging technologies required for its latest chips.
Memory suppliers have also become increasingly important. SK Hynix and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) supply high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, a critical component that enables AI accelerators to process massive amounts of data. Demand for HBM has become so intense that supply constraints have emerged as one of the key bottlenecks in the AI buildout.
Beyond chips and memory, the AI boom is creating opportunities for companies supplying the infrastructure surrounding Nvidia systems.
Amphenol Corp (NYSE: APH) has benefited from demand for high-speed connectors and networking components used in AI servers, while Vertiv Holdings, LLC (NYSE: VRT) has emerged as a major beneficiary of growing power and cooling requirements inside AI data centers.
As next-generation AI systems consume more electricity and generate more heat, the infrastructure supporting them is becoming increasingly valuable.
The Next Phase Of The AI Boom
Rubin believes earnings growth across much of the AI supply chain has largely been supported by improving profit outlooks rather than dramatic valuation expansion.
That distinction matters.
As investors gain greater visibility into the length of the AI investment cycle, some supply-chain companies could see both earnings growth and higher valuation multiples.
Still, Rubin cautioned that not every company will benefit equally.
"Not all companies will make super profits through the cycle," he said, noting that some parts of the supply chain may expand capacity more quickly and eventually pressure margins.
For now, however, the AI spending wave continues to spread beyond chip designers and cloud giants.
Nvidia may still be the center of the AI universe. But the next group of winners could be the companies helping Nvidia build it.