Nvidia (NVDA -2.20%) has been a no-brainer choice for investors aiming to win in the artificial intelligence (AI) market. The stock has soared 1,500% over the past five years as this AI chip leader delivered quarter after quarter of record revenue growth -- and this story is far from over. Nvidia's market dominance and innovation should help it to benefit as the AI boom continues.

But some billionaires have decided to move on, selling some or all of their Nvidia shares and focusing on other potential AI winners. For example, Stanley Druckenmiller of the Duquesne Family Office sold all his Nvidia shares in the third quarter of last year. Just recently, David Tepper of Appaloosa and Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management cut their positions in Nvidia.

As some investors reduce exposure to the top chipmaker, another AI stock, one that's climbed nearly 300% over the past three years, is emerging as an investor favorite. Let's check it out.

Three smiling investors work together at a table in an office.

Image source: Getty Images.

Among the top five

The stock I'm talking about is among the top five stock holdings of Tepper, and it's the No. 1 stock holding of Laffont, as well as fellow billionaires Chase Coleman of Tiger Global Management and Stephen Mandel Jr. of Lone Pine Capital. Ole Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global Investors is also bullish on this stock, opening a position in the first quarter of this year.

This player that's been much sought after by billionaires in recent times is Meta Platforms (META -1.70%), a company you are probably very familiar with thanks to its social media dominance. Meta owns Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp -- more than 3.4 billion people worldwide use at least one of these apps daily.

Here's how billionaires Tepper, who oversees $8.3 billion, and Laffont, who manages $22 billion, took action on Nvidia and Meta in the first quarter:

  • Tepper sold 55% of his Nvidia stock and now holds 300,000 shares. He increased his Meta position by 12% to 550,000 shares. It's his fifth-biggest stock position.
  • Laffont cut his Nvidia position by 14% to 8,545,835 shares. He lifted his Meta position by 1.9% to 3,757,611 shares. As mentioned above, Meta is the biggest position in his portfolio.

Building AI expertise

Considering these moves and Meta's top spot in the portfolios of other billionaires, it's clear these expert investors see the company as a potential winner in the AI revolution. You may be wondering why this is the case, given that Meta is best known for its strengths in the social media industry. Well, Meta has also been building AI expertise in the form of its own large language model (LLM), Llama, to power innovations that may ensure its leadership in social media -- and, therefore, revenue growth.

Here's how that works. Meta generates the lion's share of its revenue from advertisers across its social media apps. And through tools like AI assistants, Meta aims to keep us spending more time on the apps, prompting advertisers to pour more investment into advertising there to reach us. Meta AI, the company's current offering, is currently the world's most widely used AI assistant.

On top of this, Meta's innovations in AI could lead to other products and services that boost revenue down the road. Meta clearly believes in the saying "go big or go home," as the company expects to reach as much as $72 billion in capital spending this year to support its AI ambitions.

A look at valuation

Now the question is: Should you follow the billionaires and buy shares of Meta? The stock trades for 27 times forward earnings estimates, making it more expensive than it was a couple of months ago when it fell to less than 20 times expected earnings. But this remains a reasonable valuation for a growth stock, particularly a profitable, well-established player that offers a secure revenue stream and even dividend payments.

The next question is, in the AI boom, should you favor Meta over Nvidia? Investors who have already won on their Nvidia investment over time, such as certain billionaires, may rotate out of the stock and into Meta. Ramping up its AI investment, Meta could be well positioned to deliver gains in the quarters to come. Meta is also slightly cheaper than Nvidia, which today trades for 33 times forward earnings estimates.

So, if you don't have any Meta shares yet, you may want to get in on this exciting story -- but you don't necessarily have to forget about Nvidia. The best strategy may be to hold shares of both of these AI leaders as the AI boom enters its next chapter.