Since purchasing a controlling stake in the company and becoming its CEO in 1965, Warren Buffett has built Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.13%) (BRK.B -0.06%) into the world's most successful investment conglomerate. As of this writing, Berkshire has a market capitalization of roughly $1.05 trillion and ranks as the world's 11th largest business overall.
Notably, Buffett will be stepping down as Berkshire's CEO at the end of this year and transferring the role to successor Greg Abel -- who is currently chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and vice-chairman of the company's non-insurance operations. With a major leadership transition on the horizon, the investment giant's portfolio and stock trading moves have taken on an added dimension of significance.
Read on for a look at two artificial intelligence (AI) companies that account for more than 22% of Berkshire's $294 billion stock portfolio -- and what recent investment moves say about its read on the AI space and broader market.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
1. Apple stock: 21.5% of Berkshire's public stock portfolio
Jennifer Saibil (Apple): Apple (AAPL 1.21%) has been Berkshire Hathaway's largest position for several years, and Buffett recently included it in his list of stocks he expects to hold forever. Forever refers to his time leading Berkshire Hathaway, and that's coming to a close quite soon. But it's unlikely that the two people responsible for the equity portfolio, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, are going to make any major changes, since they've effectively been running it for a long time already.
Although Buffett loves Apple and specifically called out CEO Tim Cook at the 2025 shareholders' meeting, saying he's made Berkshire Hathaway shareholders more money than Buffett ever did, Berkshire has been cutting down its position in Apple over the last year. Berkshire Hathaway was a net seller of stocks again in the second quarter and it sold another 20 million shares of Apple in the period. Even after recent sells, Apple is still Berkshire's largest holding and accounts for roughly 21.5% of its public stock portfolio.
There are specific qualities Buffett looks for in a great stock, and Apple checks all the boxes. He loves its management, and he loves that Apple doesn't need to invest a lot of money to make a lot of money; it has several well-loved products in an exclusive ecosystem, making for an equivalent to a recurring revenue stream, since fans are reliable for purchases when new upgrades come out. Apple's strong global brand provides a moat and keeps users in the ecosystem, and fans tend to be "all Apple" customers, buying all of their devices, like iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads.
One area Apple seems to have fallen behind in is AI. Although Cook sounded upbeat about Apple Intelligence on the recent quarterly conference call, it hasn't launched the same level of platform that competitors like Amazon (AMZN 3.12%) and Meta Platforms are rolling out.
However, management said it was increasing its capital expenditure spending for the remainder of the year, and I wouldn't count Apple out of the AI race. It tends to release products and services that have the differentiated Apple style that users have come to love, and it's likely to release an AI product that has that stamp. For now, Apple delivered a strong performance in the 2025 fiscal third quarter (ended June 30), easily beating expectations. Its stock is still sluggish, but it wouldn't be the first time Apple roars back to life after spending some time in the dumps, and there may be something coming up just around the corner to reignite the stock.
2. Amazon stock: 0.8% of Berkshire's public stock portfolio
Keith Noonan (Amazon): Coming in at 0.8% of Berkshire's stock portfolio, Amazon ranks as the investment conglomerate's 23rd-largest holding. Berkshire first initiated a position in the stock in 2019, and it hasn't exactly been in a hurry to ramp up its stake. On the other hand, Buffett's company has generally been taking a cautious approach to AI stocks and the market at large recently.
As of its most recent update, Berkshire Hathaway reported cash-and-short-term equivalents of approximately $344.1 billion. The company's moves to build up its cash pile could suggest that the investment giant sees a lot of risk factors amid the current market backdrop. For reference, Berkshire's current cash holdings are just shy of the record cash position of $347.7 billion it carried at the end of this year's first quarter. The cautious approach to portfolio composition could suggest that Buffett and Berkshire see overall stock market valuations as overheated in the face of macroeconomic and geopolitical risk factors.
Even though Buffett's company hasn't made big moves to increase its position in Amazon, there are good reasons to think that the company has what it takes to be a long-term winner in the AI space. In addition to Amazon Web Services continuing to lead the market in the cloud infrastructure space that's at the heart of the artificial intelligence revolution, the tech giant's e-commerce business stands to see big benefits from technological revolutions that are currently underway.
Advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation have the potential to transform Amazon's e-commerce business over the next five years. While high operating costs associated with the online retail business have kept margins in the category far lower than what the company is recording with the AWS cloud-infrastructure unit, e-commerce profitability could soar as AI and robotics pave the way for dramatic cost reductions. If so, Amazon stock could be one of the market's biggest mega-cap winners over the next half-decade.
