Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) analysts say AI-linked stocks are increasingly being treated as defensive holdings rather than positions to be trimmed at the first sign of market stress.
The bank notes the early rally was concentrated in NVIDIA Corporation but has broadened to semiconductors, cloud infrastructure and enterprise software, with Broadcom and Microsoft Corporation joining Nvidia at the centre of the narrative.
Goldman points to continued corporate spending by major cloud providers and enterprise buyers, and to investors' fear of missing out after underweighting the rally, as forces underpinning persistent flows even as the bank warns that rich valuations and index concentration remain meaningful risks.
Its analysts describe the shift as a structural change in how a significant portion of institutional money manages technology exposure, with AI holdings being evaluated as strategic positions to be held through interest‑rate cycles.