This Smart‑Money Legend Won Big on Intel. The Rest of His Portfolio Might Be Even More Revealing

The meteoric rise in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC | INTC Price Prediction) stock has arguably been the biggest story of the past year. Now up 486% in a year, questions linger as to whether the heated semi name is worth pursuing, especially as its market cap starts swelling.

Another doubling would send Intel right above that $1 trillion mark. Given the momentum behind semis and how well the firm has pivoted under its new CEO, a strong case could be made for buying the name, even after the masses have fallen back in love with one of the original chip juggernauts.

Tarien Capital has made a slew of brilliant tech bets

Though it’s hard to value the firm, I do think that it’s worth exploring which smart-money managers got their timing right. One underrated fund manager is Terry Zhang over at Tairen Capital, who did incredibly well in Intel.

The name now represents just north of 4% of the fund as of the end of the first quarter of 2026. For the most part, the portfolio is very well balanced across names that have profited profoundly from the AI revolution and the concentration of momentum in the semiconductor industry. 

Beyond Intel, Mr. Zhang swung home runs with Micron (NASDAQ:MU), up 91% in the past month, and the iShares South Korea ETF (NYSEARCA:EWY), up just over 31% in the past month. Other positions at the top include Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ:LITE), up over 1,000% in the past year, which Tairen Capital has since trimmed by nearly half, as well as Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), another big AI winner that received a big haircut of around 55%.

Given that Micron and the iShares South Korea ETF have already won big since the end of the first quarter, it’s hard to tell what to do with the latest 13F filing. We don’t know if the past-month gainers have since been trimmed, sold, or perhaps even added to.

Meta Platforms: The Terry Zhang play I’d follow

Time will tell. Personally, I think it makes more sense to consider the names that haven’t gained by all too much since the first quarter. In that regard, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) stands out as a very intriguing new buy. The stock hasn’t done anything — perhaps other than sag 3% year to date — of late. And at 22.9 times trailing price-to-earnings (P/E), the name may very well be a value gem in the AI scene.

What’s more, though, is that Meta isn’t just a heavy AI spender with upside to be had in AI glasses; it’s also got its own chips, a very intriguing new model in Muse Spark, which I view as underrated, and, of course, the prudent leadership of the great Mark Zuckerberg. As Zuckerberg looks to monetize Meta through subscriptions and other areas, including getting into the cloud computing business as a hyperscaler, perhaps Meta Platforms may be the ultimate AI monetization surprise of the second half.

Of course, time will tell what happens, but the fact that Zuckerberg has said that getting into cloud computing is “definitely on the table” leads me to believe that Meta might be profoundly underestimated, as it gets into a high-growth space with less baggage than some of its larger peers. In my view, Meta’s entry into cloud computing only makes sense. And, for now, it’s one of the smart money favorites that should capture investors’ attention.