As AI grows, demand for certain chips – GPUs – stays high, making them a potentially valuable asset to hold. The report examines views from wealth sector asset allocators.

New research shows that tech-related assets are now the most widely held theme in β€œalternative” portfolios, ahead of property, private equity and venture capital.

The findings come from Nuway Capital, a UK-based alternative investment and infrastructure advisory firm and KPMG Ireland.

Graphics processing units (GPUs), for example – which are silicon chips powering AI – have moved from a niche tech area to a mainstream infrastructure asset, the report finds. The study entitled – Investing in GPUs – Paper 3: GPUs Within the Alternative Investment Landscape β€“ surveyed 120 high net worth individuals, family offices and wealth managers across 10 international markets.  

In this study, the GPU is being explored as an alternative investment, similar to how people invest in property and rent it out to tenants: Investors buy these chips and rent them out to AI companies that need them to run their systems. 

Some 72 per cent of respondents have invested in or advised on technology assets in the last three years – edging ahead of real estate (71 per cent) and private equity or venture capital (61 per cent).

Within this technology-oriented backdrop, investor interest in GPUs is being driven primarily by conventional investment criteria rather than thematic enthusiasm alone. Capital appreciation potential and portfolio diversification emerge as the strongest motivations, cited by 70 per cent and 54 per cent of respondents respectively, ahead of interest in technology and innovation (47 per cent), long-term wealth preservation (46 per cent) and inflation hedging (37 per cent). 

Despite growing conviction, current portfolio allocations to GPU-related assets is at an early stage, with a significant proportion of respondents reporting no exposure today. However, planned future allocations point to a directional shift, the report said. 

More than half of the respondents to the report struggle to understand GPU assets, and 43 per cent don't yet trust the asset class – suggesting that without more accessible investment products (such as exchange-traded funds and other funds) and clearer industry standards, adoption will remain slow.

β€œThe trajectory is clear. Investors are no longer questioning if GPUs matter; they are asking how to access the opportunity at scale,” Chris Brown, partner and head of KPMG Strategy in Ireland, said. β€œAs the product landscape matures and institutional frameworks develop around this asset class, we expect allocations to follow the same path as other infrastructure-adjacent alternatives.”