Bernstein Flags Crowded AI Hardware Trade; AMD, Arista, Applied Materials Most Congested, Qualcomm Least

AI infrastructure stocks remain heavily crowded even as some AI-linked names see outflows, Bernstein said in an Oct. 25 report. Communications equipment is now the most congested global TMT subsector, followed by semiconductors and electronics equipment, with AMD (AMD), Arista Networks (ANET) and Applied Materials (AMAT) among the most crowded names, while Qualcomm (QCOM) and Sandisk (SNDK) sit at the low end. Seven of the 12 semiconductor and semi-cap stocks Bernstein covers rank in the top 10% congestion bracket. AMD scored 2.35 on Bernstein's standardized congestion metric, Arista 2.20 and Lumentum 1.91. Qualcomm has stayed in the bottom 10% for most of the year. Apple (AAPL), Western Digital (WDC), Seagate (STX) and Dell (DELL) also sit in the top congestion decile; Seagate's nearline HDD capacity is sold out for calendar 2026. Bernstein said crowding does not signal deteriorating fundamentals but can amplify drawdowns if sentiment shifts. It maintained outperform ratings on AMD, Nvidia, Broadcom, Applied Materials, Apple, Western Digital, Seagate, Dell and Sandisk, and market-perform on Qualcomm, HP and Super Micro.