The fervor around artificial intelligence has sparked a gold rush into AI-themed ETFs, as following breathtaking rallies in market darlings such as Nvidia , which seeks to deliver twice the daily return of the chipmaker’s shares and is not included in Morningstar’s data on AI-themed funds, doubled to $2 billion earlier this month. Those flows have followed the nearly 80% climb in Nvidia’s shares so far this year, after the company’s shares tripled in 2023.
The funds have had collective inflows of $2.68 billion in the last 12 months, according to Morningstar. That is almost double the inflows into global real estate ETFs, the company said. The S&P 500 is up nearly 8% year-to-date, fueled in part by rallies in AI beneficiaries such as Nvidia and Microsoft , following a 24% gain last year. The AI fervor has also driven parabolic moves in the shares of other companies, including a more than 250% gain in Super Micro Computer supplements its Nvidia exposure with holdings in stocks some expect to benefit from AI technology, like Intuitive Surgical .