John Lamb, equity investment director at Capital Group, which manages about $3.6 trillion in assets, said investors should view AI as an expanding ecosystem.
"It's not about whether chips are better investments than hyperscalers. It's about having both in your portfolio," he said, noting that data centres typically take 12 to 18 months to move from construction to producing revenue.
"We're just starting to see from the latest quarterly earnings this inflection point."
Clode says those companies that control both computing capacity and the layers that help customers deploy AI efficiently across different models, optimising cost and performance, will gain a competitive edge.
He says companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google GOOGL.O have more lasting advantages than neocloud providers because of their scale and customer relationships.
Hyperscalers' valuations have compressed this year and remain below their post-pandemic peaks. Microsoft trades at about the highest multiple of 24.6 times forward earnings and Meta META.O at the lowest of 17.6.
BCA Research Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Noah Weisenberger said neocloud providers could be vulnerable if new computing capacity comes online and pricing normalises, given their heavier reliance on debt and high pricing.
He said the hyperscalers' shift to a more capital-intensive business model could restrain valuations even if earnings remain strong. Yet, he recommends a long-hyperscalers, short-neoclouds trade.
Even for the winners, there are challenges. Swiss wealth manager LGF+ZEST CIO Alberto Conca estimates AI monetisation needs a fivefold to thirteenfold increase to justify current spending plans.
Barbetta expects competition to narrow the field of AI winners as the market matures, with those companies with the broadest technology portfolios, deepest customer relationships and greatest control over their own infrastructure likely to pull ahead of more specialised rivals.
"There are absolutely going to be fewer winners in the future than there likely are players today," he said.
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