Cathie Wood picks up $44.7 million in shares of two highly watched tech stocks. Is it too late to follow along?

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Cathie Wood just made another big bet on the future of artificial intelligence and space technology.

Her investment firm, ARK Invest, added a combined market value of $44.7 million (1) in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) [NYSE:TSM] and SpaceX [NASDAQ:SPCX] to its portfolio between late July and mid-August.

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The initial share purchase aligned with trimming investments in Amazon [NASDAQ:AMZN], Alphabet [NASDAQ:GOOG] and Shopify [NASDAQ:SHOP]. ARK Invest also bought an additional $12.6 million worth of Nvidia [NASDAQ:NVDA] shares on Aug. 10 following a $9.4 million purchase on Aug. 5.

The move offers fresh insight into where the high-profile investor sees the strongest long-term growth opportunities, not to mention the strength of side-stepping the hype cycle.

Why Wood is betting bigger on TSMC and SpaceX

Both purchases fit squarely within ARK’s broader investment strategy. The firm has identified artificial intelligence along with space and defense as major areas of technological innovation.

The purchase was funded in part by the sale of roughly $1.1 million each of Amazon and Alphabet and about $5 million of Shopify. Amazon sell off came just hours before it released its July 30 second-quarter earnings report, as investors eyed the company’s AI spending and cash flow. Amazon beat Wall Street’s expectations (2), pushing shares to an all-time high on Aug. 3 (3).

TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip maker and manufactures chips for AI giants like Nvidia. The Taiwanese company recently reported second-quarter revenue of $40.2 billion (4), marking a 34% increase year over year. The company’s growth and its central role in the AI boom may make a case for Wood’s investment.

On the other hand, SpaceX is a more volatile test for ARK.

The Elon Musk-led space technology company has been rocky since its IPO debut on June 12. As of mid-August, the stock is trading below its pre-IPO price (5). This isn’t surprising given the company reported a loss (6) of more than $500 million in its first earnings report.

Whether ARK’s latest moves prove successful will depend on how both companies execute in the months ahead.

For investors, Wood’s trades serve as a reminder that investing in the future often means balancing proven industry leaders with higher-risk bets.

Read More: Millionaires under 43 hold only 25% of their wealth in stocks. Here’s where their money is actually going

Cathie Wood’s high-risk investing record

Cathie Wood’s investing career has been one of the most public examples of just how quickly fortunes can change on Wall Street.

The ARK Invest founder became a household name by placing aggressive bets on disruptive technology in 2021. ARK’s concentrated portfolio of speculative growth stocks benefited from rock-bottom interest rates and investors’ appetite for risk. At the height of the 2021 tech boom, her personal net worth reportedly surged to around $400 million (7).

But the firm’s aggressive approach also came with a steep price. The tech selloff in 2022 sent her fortune tumbling by roughly 65%. Morningstar estimates that ARK funds destroyed $14.3 billion in shareholder value over the past decade through 2024 (8).

Then came another turnaround. Four ARK ETFs were ranked among the five best-performing equity funds in 2025, according to Morningstar Direct (9).

That kind of rebound illustrates the risks and potential payoffs of making concentrated bets.

A multi-millionaire dollar investor like Wood can potentially absorb such losses temporarily without changing their lifestyle or putting other financial goals in jeopardy.

Most everyday investors don’t have that same luxury.

A major loss can eat into savings, derail other financial goals, or force an investor to sell during a downturn, locking them in.

That doesn’t mean you need to avoid growth stocks altogether. Identifying companies with genuine long-term potential matters more than simply following whichever stock is getting the most attention.

But doing that kind of research yourself takes time. Reading earnings reports, following economic data, and understanding an industry’s competitive landscape can quickly become a second job.

For investors who don’t have the time or expertise to do all of that homework, platforms like Moby can help.

Moby’s team of former hedge fund analysts and experts spend hundreds of hours each week sifting through financial news and data to provide you with breaking stock recommendations.

Moby’s success speaks for itself. The platform’s stock picks have outperformed the S&P 500 index by about 11.9% over the past four years.

Even better, Moby offers a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can see if the service is right for you. And if you sign up for Moby Premium, you get one free top stock to get you off to a good start.

Don’t build your portfolio around one investor’s trades

It’s tempting to treat every new disclosure from a high-profile investor like Wood as a potential opportunity. But copying those trades comes with a major disadvantage — you’re usually seeing the move after it has already happened.

By the time a trade becomes public, the biggest gains may already be gone.

A more reliable approach could be investing consistently across multiple stocks. Broad-market index funds, for example, spread your money across hundreds of companies rather than a handful of speculative bets.

That doesn’t eliminate market losses, but it can reduce the damage caused by any one company or industry falling out of favor.

And you don’t need to start with a fortune. Putting away $20 a week for 30 years could potentially grow into more than $179,000 at a 10% annual return (10). For context, the S&P 500 has averaged annual returns of roughly 10.5% since 1957 (11).

Platforms like Acorns let you invest spare change from everyday purchases into a diversified portfolio of ETFs automatically, helping you steadily build wealth without having to think about every market move.

All you have to do is link your cards, and Acorns will round up each purchase to the nearest dollar, investing the difference — your spare change — into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.

With Acorns, you can invest in an S&P 500 ETF with as little as $5 — and, if you sign up today and set up a recurring investment, Acorns will add a $20 bonus to help you begin your investment journey.

How to balance a tech-heavy portfolio

If your portfolio is already loaded with high-growth technology stocks, diversification may need to go a step further than simply adding another tech company to the mix.

After all, owning 10 different growth stocks doesn’t necessarily provide much protection in the event of a tech rout. One way to reduce the concentration risk is to diversify your portfolio with assets that don’t move in lockstep with equities.

Gold remains one of the most widely used defensive assets. For decades, investors have turned to the precious metal as a potential hedge during periods of inflation, geopolitical uncertainty and economic stress. Gold prices have skyrocketed over the past five years, hitting multiple record highs along the way.

One way to invest in gold that also provides significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Priority Gold.

This way, you can hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, which combines the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold.

If you opt for Priority Gold’s platinum package, you can get free account setup and insured shipping and storage for up to five years. Plus, you can also rollover your existing IRA or 401(k) into a precious metals IRA with Priority Gold — tax and penalty free.

And when you make a qualifying purchase with Priority Gold, you can receive up to $10,000 in precious metals for free. Just keep in mind that gold is often best used as one part of a well-diversified portfolio.

Think beyond stocks

Real estate has been a go-to wealth-building asset for generations. Unlike stocks, property values don’t always move in sync with the market, which can make real estate a useful way to diversify your portfolio.

Even better, rental properties can potentially appreciate over time while producing an ongoing stream of income.

But becoming a landlord isn’t as easy as it sounds. Buying a rental property means coming up with a substantial amount of money upfront and then dealing with everything from repairs and property taxes to vacancies and tenant issues.

The good news is you don’t necessarily need to buy a rental property outright to gain exposure with companies like mogul, which lets you invest in shares of single-family rental homes across the country.

Founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate investors, mogul handpicks the top 1% of single-family rental homes nationwide for you. This way, you can invest in institutional-quality offerings for a fraction of the usual cost — while receiving monthly rental income, real-time appreciation and tax benefits.

The team at mogul carefully vets each property, requiring a minimum 12% return even in downside scenarios. Across the board, the platform features an average yearly return of 18.8%. Their cash-on-cash yields, meanwhile, average between 10% to 12% annually. With investments typically ranging between $15,000 and $40,000 per property, offerings often sell out in under three hours.

Getting started is a quick and easy process. You can sign up for an account and then browse available properties. Once you verify your information with their team, you can invest like a mogul in just a few clicks.

— With files from Rinna Diamantakos

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Article Sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.

Cathie’s Ark (1); Amazon Investor Relations (2); CNBC (3); TSMC Investor Relations (4); Yahoo Finance (5); The Washington Post (6); Forbes (7); Morningstar (8), (9); Acorns (10); Investopedia (11)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.