Nvidia shares have risen 280% over the past year thanks to rising sales of its chips that power artificial intelligence applications. However, the Silicon Valley company is not alone in this AI-fueled rise. Investors are also pouring money into companies that buy these chips, amid expectations that artificial intelligence will help improve productivity and profits. CNBC Pro examined companies that are Nvidia customers, and also have total revenues that are highly tied to the chip giant — in other words, their stock prices tend to rise and fall along with Nvidia's. Super Micro, Tokyo Electron Devices, Meta Platforms, Tata Motors and Mitsui are among the stocks that witnessed the most significant gains over the past year. According to FactSet, its stock price movement correlates between 93% and 98% of the time with Nvidia stock. The table above also shows the strength of the cash relationship between AI chip buyers and Nvidia, according to FactSet. Microsoft, for example, ranks first in relationships because it is the largest customer of Nvidia's AI chips. TSMC ranked second because it is Nvidia's near-exclusive contract chip manufacturer. While the drivers of each stock's rise may vary, Meta revealed earlier this year that it is spending billions of dollars on Nvidia's popular computer chips, which are at the heart of its artificial intelligence research and projects. The Facebook and Instagram owner needs these highly durable chips as he pursues research into artificial general intelligence (AGI), which CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as a “long-term vision” for the company. Likewise, Super Micro, which makes computer servers, has directly benefited from the use of Nvidia's AI chips in its products. Technology investor Paul Meeks, co-chief investment officer at Harvest Portfolio Management, told CNBC Pro that Super Micro is his favorite alternative AI stock. The stock is up more than 1,000% in the past 12 months. “Super Micro makes dedicated servers that AI customers use, so they use Nvidia chips in their servers and… [Super Micro] They sell their servers to people like Microsoft, and then they put them in a data center. “So Super Micro has done a very good job of shifting its focus to AI customers,” Meeks said. Tokyo Electron Device Tokyo Electron Device is a distributor of NVIDIA chips in Japan. The country wants to become a leading investment destination for generative AI deployments. It also relaxed laws that typically increase the risk of copyright infringement in developed markets. Tokyo Electron Device is a listed subsidiary of Tokyo Electron Corporation, the largest manufacturer of chip manufacturing equipment in Japan. The company's shares have risen more than 180% over the past 12 months. Japan's Mitsui Group is building Tokyo-1, a supercomputer designed to power generative artificial intelligence for the pharmaceutical industry. The supercomputer will use a large number of Nvidia's most powerful graphics processing units. The stock is up nearly 60% over the past 12 months. – CNBC's Jonathan Vanian and Weizen Tan contributed reporting.
