With the artificial intelligence revolution racing ahead, investors are increasingly on the lookout for ASX AI shares.
These represent an increasingly large basket of stocks that stand to benefit from the rise of self-thinking machines.
Few companies demonstrate the potential on offer here better than Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA). Amid booming demand for its generative AI chips, the Nvidia share price has rocketed 194% over the past year.
That gives the United States-based tech giant an eye-popping market cap of US$2.83 trillion (AU$4.24 trillion).
But it's an ASX AI share we're after here.
And one that offers instant diversity.
Namely Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK).
A diverse ASX AI share
Now HACK isn't exactly an ASX AI share.
To be precise, it's an ASX AI exchange traded fund (ETF). Which is where that instant diversity comes from.
The ETF currently holds 30 leading global companies with a focus on cybersecurity.
Its top four holdings are Broadcom Inc, Cisco Systems Inc, Crowdstrike Holdings Inc and Palo Alto Networks Inc.
According to Betashares' website, the aim of this ASX ETF is to track the performance of an index (before fees and expenses) that provides exposure to the leading companies in the global cybersecurity sector.
On the subject of management fees and expenses, those run at 0.67% annually.
As for the returns (as at 30 April), the ASX AI share has returned 38.6% over 12 months. The five year returns average out to 15.2% annually.
Taking it to the hackers
Now, even without the rise of AI, the companies that HACK holds play a vital role in safeguarding personal, business and government data from malicious players.
Just last week, thousands of Aussies received an unwelcome reminder of how important these cyber defenders were when news broke that Ticketek had suffered a serious data breach.
"The available evidence at this time indicates that, from a privacy perspective, your name, date of birth and email address may have been impacted," Ticketek emailed to impacted customers.
Federal Minister for Home Affairs Clare O'Neil noted (quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald):
Ticketek advised the National Office of Cyber Security that they have experienced a cybersecurity incident impacting Ticketek Australia, and data belonging to their customers has been stolen.
The information we have so far indicates that this is a breach potentially affecting many Australians, but the data is likely limited to names, dates of births, and email addresses.
Fortunately, it appears the hackers were denied access to banking and other personal financial details.
But that might not be the case with their next efforts.
Which is why HACK qualifies as a top ASX AI share in my book.
You see, AI won't just be used to help improve people's lives. I'm sure these same malicious actors will employ the technology to steal whatever data it opens up for them.
And that should continue to drive plenty of growth opportunities for the companies held by the Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF.
