This investor who backed Nvidia in 2016 and a memory-chip maker in 2024 now has a third conviction call

By Steve Goldstein

Josh Wolfe recommends hardware stocks to play 'lifecording' trend

"Lifecording" is the investing trend pushed forward by venture-capital investor Josh Wolfe.

Josh Wolfe, a venture-capital investor who uses the ideas from his portfolio companies to invest in the stock market, says he has identified a third strong conviction call that will lift hardware stocks.

Wolfe, the co-founder of Lux Capital, noted some of his previous prescient calls, in a Friday post on X. At a 2016 investment conference, he recommended Nvidia (NVDA) on the view that the narrative would change from gaming consoles to simulation and AI. In 2024 he recommended a long position in memory-chip maker SK Hynix (KR:000660) and a short on nuclear-power stocks, a conviction strong enough that a tracker of that call was made, and it shows a 656% return.

In the interest of fairness, Wolfe in October said he had puts on the Nasdaq-100 QQQ and publicly recommended Adobe (ADBE) back in December, two trades that have seen heavy losses.

Wolfe said he was sharing a playbook that he started investing in for his family office back in February.

The idea is called "lifecording" - that there's an abundance of hardware devices recording your life, with AI processing, summarizing, searching and finding insights and connections.

He cites examples such as Meta's (META) acquisition of the Limitless pendant, Amazon (AMZN) of wearable startup Bee and OpenAI's work on AI hardware as evidence that the trend will come to fruition.

The arms dealers, as he calls hardware firms, will win, seeing "a demand shock" when the giants place unusual big orders.

Who are those dealers?

The largest holding in his lifecording portfolio was Nordic Semiconductor (NO:NOD) (NDCVF), as a leader in what's called Bluetooth Low Energy, a bet on the ubiquity of wireless connectivity.

Next up were the eyes and ears of AI, which he identified as TDK (JP:6762) (TTDKY) and Himax Technologies (HIMX). The portfolio also includes Ambiq (AMBQ), designated as "aggressive" with a focus on ultra-low-power Edge AI chips, while Infineon Technologies (XE:IFX) (IFNNY) is called "strategic," an established player in power management and automotive semiconductors.

Rounding out the portfolio was Ceva (CEVA), called an anchor through its IP licensing model, while Synaptics (SYNA) is a "tactical" play on the Internet of Things and human-interface hardware.

Since that initial portfolio, Wolfe said he has been adding other companies in the space. A screenshot shows Evonix (ENVX), a company involved in the smart eyewear field, was added, as well as Apple supplier Cirrus Logic (CRUS).

-Steve Goldstein

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05-11-26 1616ET