Coatue’s AI Master Plan: Chips, Power, and the New Token Economy

How Philippe Laffont Is Building the Physical Layer of the Intelligence Era

NASDAQ: TSM | NASDAQ: NFLX | NASDAQ: MSFT | NASDAQ: AMZN | NASDAQ: NVDA | NYSE: CEG (as of early 2026)

🎯 FunFund Index™ : 8.5 / 10 🎯

Tooltip: Coatue sits at the crossroads of public markets, private AI, and infrastructure. High conviction, high volatility, high IQ. Not always pretty—often brilliant.

🏗️ From “Tech Hedge Fund” to “AI City Planner”

While many funds spent 2025 chasing AI headlines, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management spent it building the AI physical layer. With roughly $40.8B in AUM, Coatue has quietly evolved into something rarer than a unicorn IPO: a hybrid public-private machine that allocates capital across chips, power grids, data centers, and the brains that live inside them.

Think less “cloud metaphors,” more concrete, copper, and cooling systems.

The result?

• 📈 ~13% gain through November 2025

• 🚀 ~36.5% trailing 12-month return

• 🧠 A portfolio that looks less like a tech ETF and more like a blueprint for the Intelligence Economy

🧭 The Laffont Thesis: Public vs. Private Arbitrage

Laffont is playing a sophisticated game of “Public vs. Private Arbitrage.” When public AI names get frothy, he trims. When private infrastructure or foundational models need capital, he deploys.

In 2025, that meant:

• ✂️ Trimming NVIDIA, Meta, Alphabet

• ➕ Doubling down on Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft

• 🏗️ Going huge on AI infrastructure (Firmus + Blackstone data centers)

• 🧪 Co-leading monster rounds in Anthropic and other frontier AI labs

Translation: Coatue isn’t just betting on who wins AI. They’re betting on what AI needs to exist.

📊 The 2025–2026 Scorecard: Selling the “Magnificent” to Buy the “Substantial”

🧬 Inside the Portfolio: The High-Conviction Filter

As of Dec 31, 2025, Coatue held 87 positions, but here’s the kicker:

• ❌ 59 decreased

• 🗑️ 35 fully sold

• 🧹 This is not indexing. This is editing.

1️⃣ The “Ad-Tech” Evolution

They trimmed Alphabet and Meta, but stayed aggressive in Reddit (RDDT) and AppLovin (APP). Why? Because the next generation of attention and performance ads isn’t owned by the old kings—yet.

2️⃣ The “Semi” Supercycle

Coatue isn’t just in chips. They’re in the machines that make the chips:

• 🔧 Applied Materials (+78%)

• 🏭 Lam Research
  This screams one thing: the semiconductor build-out is still in early innings.

3️⃣ The “DoorDash is a Utility” Bet

A +77% increase in DoorDash (DASH) looks odd—until you see it as logistics + data + habit formation. Laffont loves consumer tech that quietly becomes infrastructure.

🧠 The “Token Economy” Mindset

Laffont has hinted that we’re moving toward a “token economy”—where intelligence itself becomes a priced, traded input. If that’s true, then:

• 🧪 Labs create intelligence

• ⚙️ Infrastructure distributes it

• 📦 Platforms package it

• 🔌 Utilities power it

And suddenly, Netflix, Amazon, and DoorDash aren’t “apps.” They’re distribution rails for cognition.

Spooky? Maybe. Profitable? Very possibly.

📚 Lessons for Retail Investors: The Laffont Playbook

🪙 1. Don’t Fall in Love with Winners

Coatue trimmed Nvidia and Meta after monster runs.
Lesson: Profit-taking is not betrayal. It’s recycling capital into the next asymmetry.

🧱 2. Buy the Bottleneck, Not the Buzz

Retail buys AI apps. Coatue buys:

• Chips (TSMC)

• Power (GE Vernova, Constellation)

• Tools (AMAT, LRCX)

Insight: The unsexy choke point often captures the best economics.

🔄 3. Think in Systems, Not Stocks

Coatue doesn’t ask, “Who wins AI?”
They ask, “What must exist no matter who wins?”

That’s a much better question.

🥗 Food for Thought: The Cross-Hub Connection

In FunHealth, we talk about infrastructure before performance (sleep, metabolism, movement).
In FunFinance, Coatue is doing the same: power, chips, data centers before apps.

Health needs mitochondria before muscles.
AI needs electrons before algorithms.

Different worlds. Same architecture.

⚡ The FUNanc1al Verdict

Coatue is one of the few firms that can:

• Lead a $10B data center debt round on Monday

• Rebalance $3B of TSMC on Tuesday

• Co-lead an AI lab mega-round on Wednesday

That’s not a hedge fund. That’s an economic air traffic controller for the Intelligence Era.

If you want to invest like Laffont in 2026:
Stop staring at “The Cloud.”
Start looking at the power grid, chip fabs, and cooling systems underneath it.

❓ FAQ

Is Coatue bullish on AI?
Yes—but more on AI’s infrastructure than just AI apps.

Why reduce Nvidia if AI is booming?
Because risk management and valuation matter. Even great stocks get too crowded.

What’s the biggest hidden bet?
Power and semiconductors. No electricity, no intelligence.

Is this strategy volatile?
Yes. High conviction + tech cycles = turbulence. Seatbelt recommended.

🧾 Quick Take / TL;DR

• 🧠 Coatue is building the AI physical layer, not just chasing apps

• ⚙️ Big bets on TSMC, power, data centers, chip equipment

• 🎯 Trimming hype, funding infrastructure

• 🏗️ Think systems, not stocks

• 🔌 In AI, electricity is destiny

📌 Important Note on “Returns” and 13F Filings

When FUNanc1al references hedge fund “returns,” we are typically describing the performance of the fund’s public equity holdings as reported in SEC 13F filings and reconstructed by portfolio trackers. This shows how the visible stock positions performed based on market prices—not the fund’s actual, private Net Asset Value (NAV) return to investors.

Hedge funds often hold private investments, cash, hedges, and non-disclosed positions, and they also charge management and performance fees. As a result, a fund’s true investor return can differ—sometimes materially—from the 13F-based “shadow portfolio” performance. In short: 13F returns show how the stocks did; NAV returns show how the fund did—and those are not the same thing.

✍️ About the Author

Frédéric Marsanne is the founder of FUNanc1al — part market analyst, part storyteller, part accidental comedian. A longtime investor, entrepreneur, and venture-builder across tech, biotech, and fintech, he blends sharp insights with a twist of humor to help readers laugh, learn, live better lives, and invest a little wiser. When not decoding hedge fund moves or poking fun at earnings calls, he’s building Cl1Q, writing fiction, painting, or discovering new passions to FUNalize.

🧾⚠️📢 Fun(anc1al) but Serious Disclaimer: 🧾⚠️📢

This article is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Hedge funds, quantitative strategies, and factor investing involve risk, including the risk of significant losses. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always do your own research or consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Resist FOMO and never invest money you can’t afford to lose. 

Hedge funds are complex, risky, and often inaccessible to most investors — plus remember: even the smartest money in the world has bad months. Sometimes very bad ones. 💥

We are not hedge fund managers. We do not wear parachutes to rooftop parties. Markets evolve. Machines adapt. Investors should too.

We laugh, we analyze, we meme. 
We’re FUNancial advisors — not financial advisors. 😄📉📈

Beware the standard deviations. Invest at your own risk. Love at any pace. Laugh at every turn. 
Be Happy. 😄😄😄

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