Despite recent blips, the markets have kept pushing higher in 2025, lifted by excitement around AI and the massive investments flowing into tech. Consumer spending has also stayed surprisingly resilient, even with stubborn inflation and a softer job market, giving business confidence a boost.
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However, Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin cautions that this upbeat mood may be artificially driven by fiscal and monetary policies that make more sense for a contracting economy than one that is expanding. He noted that while these policies are boosting markets, they resemble measures typically seen during recessionary times.
This approach, says the billionaire, has produced a kind of “sugar high” that hides deeper issues such as inflation and a weakening dollar. And even with stocks surging, he highlighted gold’s more than 50% climb this year as a sign that investors are quietly hedging against U.S. sovereign risk.
That doesn’t mean Griffin is stepping away from AI or tech, but rather becoming more selective. In Q3, the billionaire investor, whose net worth is about $49.8 billion, reshuffled some of his AI chipmaker stocks – namely giants Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) – loading up on one while trimming his holdings of the other.
So, with help from the TipRanks database, we took a closer look at both names to understand why Griffin currently leans toward one over the other.
Nvidia
Probably no other company embodies the rise of AI better than Nvidia, as the game-changing tech has turned the semiconductor firm into the world’s most valuable company. It’s a story that has been rehashed repeatedly over the past few years, but for good reason, as Nvidia’s ascent to the top of the market cap pile mirrors AI’s march to mainstream adoption.
Nvidia was already a heavyweight in its field before AI became a thing, but was mostly considered a gaming specialist via its pioneering of GPUs. But by applying the same chip architecture that powered high-end graphics to the massive computational demands of modern AI models, the company positioned itself right at the center of tech’s biggest shift. And fortunately for Nvidia, its chips have been deemed a class above the rest. Moreover, it offers a whole ecosystem rather than just the hardware – software, frameworks, and tools that make it much simpler for developers to work with AI. Instead of just shipping hardware, Nvidia offers the full stack, which made its tech the natural choice as the AI boom took off.
That resulted in massive real-world adoption that has translated to huge share gains. And that, in turn, has made the company the market leader it is today.
Although Griffin has warned about the state of the economy, he evidently feels Nvidia still offers a compelling investment case. During Q3, he bought 1,733,051 NVDA shares via Citadel, boosting the fund’s stake by 22%. Citadel now holds 9,819,812 shares worth $1.82 billion.
Wall Street has long been enthusiastic about Nvidia, and even some former skeptics are now coming around. One of them is HSBC analyst Frank Lee, who recently shifted to a more upbeat view.
“We are more bullish… given we now see further potential upside to FY27e earnings that can surprise the market. Previously, we had concerns that limited ASP upside from NVIDIA’s Rubin GPU roadmap that were laid out post the March GTC event would lead to limited room for significant earnings upside surprise over the next 1-2 years and potential re-rating headwinds. However… NVIDIA was seeing shifting narrative from supply chain and GPU roadmap toward a focus on expanding AI GPU TAM from China, enterprise, and sovereign AI opportunities. Although the magnitude of enterprise and sovereign AI TAM remains difficult to quantify, we believe NVIDIA’s recent bullish FY27e CoWoS wafer allocation re-affirms the narrative of an increasing AI GPU TAM beyond traditional reliance on CSP capex,” Lee opined.
To this end, Lee rates NVDA shares a Buy, while his $320 price target offers one-year upside of 68%. (To watch Lee’s track record, click here)
The broader analyst community is similarly constructive. Excluding one Hold and one Sell, all 37 other recent reviews are positive, giving Nvidia a Strong Buy consensus rating. With an average price target of $242, the Street sees about 30% upside over the coming 12 months. (See NVDA stock forecast)
Intel
If Nvidia represents the AI chip industry’s ultimate success story, then Intel is almost a mirror image. Once the undisputed giant of the semiconductor world, it struggled to keep pace just as the industry shifted toward the types of high-performance chips powering modern AI. While rivals raced ahead with cutting-edge designs and faster production cycles, Intel found itself slowed down by manufacturing setbacks and strategic missteps, leaving it fighting to reclaim ground in a space it once dominated.
But after several unsuccessful turnaround efforts, Intel has seen a bit of a sentiment shift take place. New CEO Lip‑Bu Tan has implemented aggressive cost-cutting and operational restructuring measures, while the company has struck some important investor-pleasing deals. Nvidia is investing $5 billion to co-develop data‑center and PC chips. SoftBank has backed it with $2 billion, signalling long-term confidence in its manufacturing comeback, while the U.S. government has taken a 9.9% stake, roughly $8.9 billion, to help support its foundry ambitions.
The company also delivered a strong Q3 readout, with revenue up by 3.7% year-over-year to $13.7 billion, beating the consensus estimate by $560 million, while adj. EPS of $0.23 outpaced Street expectations by $0.22.
The stock has responded well to all these developments, climbing 77% year-to-date. But maybe Griffin has decided that it is good enough for now. During Q3, he offloaded 69% of his INTC holdings, selling 10,015,557 shares.
Rosenblatt’s Kevin Cassidy isn’t fully sold on the turnaround either, saying the recent progress doesn’t meaningfully change where Intel stands today.
“Intel delivered solid progress in 3Q25, driven not only by its widely recognized balance sheet improvements but also by rising client and server CPU demand alongside ongoing cost reductions,” the 5-star analyst said. “Management noted that increasing demand has the company supply constrained on the older Intel 10 and Intel 7 nodes, while the 18A process is on track to ramp production and improve yields through 2026. Despite these encouraging developments, competitive pressures continue to limit gross margin expansion. We remain cautious on the fundamentals supporting the current valuation,” Cassidy commented.
Bottom line, Cassidy rates the stock a Sell, while his $25 price target suggests the shares will see downside of ~28% over the next year. (To watch Cassidy’s track record, click here)
The general Street view is not quite as bearish, but hardly bullish, either. INTC claims a Hold (i.e., Neutral) consensus rating, based on a mix of 24 Holds, 6 Sells, and 3 Buys. The average price target stands at $35.44, indicating the shares are almost fully valued. (See INTC stock forecast)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
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