Can Marvel compete with Nvidia? AI Era Event Highlights – Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (NASDAQ:BOTZ), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

It’s been a monster year. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). A hot tech driven by the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has become one of the most popular stocks in the market. Nvidia is up about 230% since this time last year, while the S&P 500 is up about 26%.

It’s not just Nvidia that has seen huge gains. The semiconductor industry as a whole has benefited from the AI ​​hype. The technology requires massive amounts of data processing and advanced computing that is pushing the limits of what is possible.

Marvell Technology ( NASDAQ:MRVL ) , another chipmaker, has seen a boost this year, up about 73 percent, but the gains are smaller than Nvidia’s. Why?

Nvidia, which began as a gaming-focused company, primarily manufactures graphical processing units (GPUs). These GPUs are at the heart of what makes large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT work. Nvidia was poised to capture this market immediately.

Marvel’s expertise isn’t in GPUs. Although the company manufactures and sells a diverse set of products, it specializes in digital signal processing (DSP) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Marvel works with a partner, eg Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) AWS, to design and manufacture a bespoke chip to solve a unique problem.

The AI ​​era

Earlier today, Marvell hosted its Accelerated Infrastructure for AI Era event in New York City. The event included presentations and a question-and-answer session with the senior leadership team, including CEO Matthew Murphy.

Much of the event was devoted to explaining the new technologies that Marvel has developed – or are just on the horizon – that will allow the company to better position itself in the AI ​​arms race. As AI technology becomes more powerful, driving hardware becomes more complex. Companies, even megacaps Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) or Google (Alphabet Inc.) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), often struggles to develop in-house solutions and partners with Marvell, and as the arms race escalates, developing custom ASIC solutions becomes more attractive, even necessary. .

The leadership team also focused on the company’s DSP business and its position as a market leader. The technology, as recently as last year, was thought to be starting to become obsolete in the AI ​​space. This sentiment has changed and they are now expected to continue to play the leading role.

ETF

AI, and the semiconductor industry that serves it, will likely continue to grow rapidly as the technology becomes more widely adopted.

Interested investors can choose between investing in individual stocks as they see fit or opt for a broader vehicle such as an exchange-traded fund. Investing in an AI-exposed fund allows investors to access a space they believe in without having to do the thorough research necessary to get the best returns.

gave Spear Alpha ETF (NYSE:SPRX) is an attractive option. The fund has performed exceptionally well, up nearly 61 percent since this time last year. It is actively managed by Ivana Delivska, whose captaincy of the ship has been impressive so far.

Although the fund is relatively small, with north of $70 million in AUM, it has outperformed larger funds such as iShares US Technology ETF (NYSE:IYW) or Global X Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF (NASDAQ:BOTZ), up 48.5% and 24.5% over the past year, respectively.

Featured image by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash