Nvidia is clearly the chips leader in AI trade, says Silvant Capital's Sansoterra

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  January 06, 2026 at 18:47  |  3:46  |  CNBC
Speakers
Michael Sansoterra — Chief Investment Officer, Silvant Capital

Summary

On CNBC's The Exchange, Silvant Capital CIO Michael Sansoterra assessed the AI trade after CES. He remains long NVIDIA as his top holding and the clear AI chip leader, likes Alphabet as a second AI winner on Gemini 3 and its search moat, and prefers ASML as a way to play DRAM pricing and capacity expansion rather than chasing volatile memory stocks. He had nothing negative on AMD but owns none, and stressed there will be multiple AI winners.

  • Michael Sansoterra of Silvant Capital discusses AI positioning after CES on The Exchange.
  • NVIDIA stays his top holding; he calls it the clear AI chip leader.
  • Vera Rubin shipping early and large per-token/per-watt cost savings cited as positives.
  • He likes Alphabet on Gemini 3 benchmark strength and defense of its search moat.
  • He prefers ASML over chasing volatile memory names as a DRAM capacity play.
  • Host notes reports of SK Hynix and Samsung raising Q1 server DRAM prices 60-70%.
  • He is not negative on AMD but owns none; he sees room for multiple chip winners.
Ideas
Michael Sansoterra Chief Investment Officer, Silvant Capital 0:40
NVIDIA stays top holding, clear AI leader.
NVIDIA remains his top holding and he is not getting off the NVIDIA train: AI and chipset demand continues, NVIDIA is on the cutting edge with Vera Rubin shipping early and roughly 10 times cost savings per token per watt, and he likes it primarily because of the magnitude of its stack, even as it moves into acquisitions to expand that stack. While there is room for other players like TPUs and custom ASICs, NVIDIA is clearly the AI chip leader, no question.
Michael Sansoterra Chief Investment Officer, Silvant Capital 2:10
Alphabet well positioned with Gemini 3.
He likes Alphabet as one of the handful of AI winners in the Silvant Focused Growth Fund: it is well positioned with Gemini 3, showing strong benchmark performance while defending its search moat as the models leapfrog one another, and its TPUs will have their place alongside custom ASICs.
Michael Sansoterra Chief Investment Officer, Silvant Capital 3:20
Buy ASML as DRAM capacity play.
Rather than chase volatile, super-high memory stocks, he wants to buy the tool maker ASML, the king, to take advantage of DRAM pricing: the 2026 to 2028 DRAM capacity expansion leaves ASML perfectly situated to profit, it can be bought at a reasonable price, and he expects it to beat expectations over the next few years amid sell-side upgrades.
Up Next

This CNBC video, published January 06, 2026, features Michael Sansoterra discussing NVDA, GOOGL, ASML. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Michael Sansoterra  · Tickers: NVDA, GOOGL, ASML