Berkshire Hathaway's largest stock holding remains Apple, a company that has incorporated AI into its popular tech products.
Buffett has also bought shares of insurance giant Chubb and payments leader Visa.
Both Chubb and Visa are using AI in fraud detection.
After six decades leading Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett will retire from his role as CEO at the end of the year. Over his tenure, the conglomerate has absolutely trounced the market. From 1965 through 2024, Berkshire shares increased by 5,502,284% compared to a 39,054% return for the S&P 500.
Some, though certainly not all, of that growth was driven by the gains of its extensive stock portfolio, which today is valued at $320 billion. Safe to say, Buffett's portfolio is still a great place to get investing ideas.
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While he has largely shied away from investing in tech stocks, there are some companies using artificial intelligence (AI) among Berkshire's holdings -- and three of them currently make up 27% of the portfolio.
Image source: Getty Images.
Buffett started investing in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in 2016, and it's now the largest position he has, at 23.9% of Berkshire's portfolio. Apple hasn't exactly been leading the pack when it comes to AI -- its rollout of Apple Intelligence started in 2024, and some promised features have been delayed until 2026 -- but it has incorporated AI technology across its product lineup. Apple devices now have AI-powered real-time text analysis, battery management optimization, and augmented reality (AR) enhancements.
Unlike other major tech companies, Apple hasn't developed its own competitive AI models. Instead, it has partnered with AI companies including OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and Alphabet. It will reportedly pay Alphabet $1 billion per year to use a custom Gemini AI model to power its Siri virtual assistant.
Considering the growing concerns that the tech sectors' AI spending may have become excessive, Apple's approach could end up being more cost-effective. Apple may not perform like a growth stock anymore, but it should continue to do well for shareholders, especially given the level of brand loyalty its products generate.
The insurance business has been a lucrative one for Buffett. Berkshire owns several insurance companies, including Geico. In 2023 and 2024, Berkshire invested in Chubb (NYSE: CB), an American-Swiss company that provides commercial, personal, overseas general, and life insurance policies to customers worldwide.
Chubb is known for taking an innovative approach to its business, and its use of AI technology is one example of that. The insurer has incorporated AI to automate underwriting workflows, claims assessment and processing, and fraud detection. Earlier this month, Chubb also unveiled an AI-powered optimization engine that analyzes data and provides personalized insurance product recommendations to customers.
A forward-thinking approach is great, but it's ultimately the results that matter. Chubb's combined ratio -- one of the main metrics insurance companies use to gauge their profitability -- demonstrates just how efficient it is. A combined ratio of 100% indicates that an insurer is breaking even; any figure below that indicates it's profitable. Chubb's property and casualty (P&C) combined ratio in 2024 was 86.6%, 10% better than the industry average of 96.6%.
Chubb currently makes up 2.5% of Berkshire's portfolio. If you're looking for more stable stocks that are benefiting from AI, you may want to add this insurance provider to yours.
Visa (NYSE: V) went public in 2008, and Buffett bought shares a few years later in 2011. That holding now makes up nearly 1% of Berkshire's portfolio.
While AI exploded in popularity following the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, the technology had been evolving for decades before that, and Visa was an early adopter. In 1993, it became the first payment network to use AI in risk and fraud management. Visa Advanced Authorization, a real-time payment product powered by Visa's AI platform, now prevents an estimated $28 billion in fraud annually.
Visa is also using AI to streamline the online shopping experience. It's developing agentic AI tools that can make purchases for LLM users based on queries about products and services, eliminating their need to visit other websites.
Visa and rival Mastercard dominate their industry: The two combine to handle 90% of all payment processing outside China. This makes Visa one of the better wide-moat stocks and a fairly safe investment.
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Lyle Daly has positions in Alphabet and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.