Artificial intelligence (AI) is the biggest investment theme this year as it is rapidly transforming many industries. Investors have been trying to identify the early winners of the AI gold rush since ChatGPT captured the imagination of consumers.

Semiconductor stocks are among the most obvious winners of the AI hype. The shares of Nvidia (NVDA Quick QuoteNVDA - Free Report) , which designs the most advanced AI GPUs, are up over 230% this year. However, with chip stocks and ETFs already up a lot, many investors are looking for the next buying opportunities in other areas.

The current AI investment landscape has predominantly prioritized model development, according to Goldman Sachs. However, for generative AI to achieve widespread scalability, a substantial increase in both hardware and software infrastructure will be required. This could benefit companies specializing in software development for AI-driven applications.

According to a CNBC report, during the mobile internet hype cycle, investors piled into chip stocks first, then infrastructure, and finally into software and services stocks. If that trend repeats for the generative AI hype cycle, we could see more interest in software stocks.

ARK CEO Cathie Wood also believes that the next big AI opportunity for investors might be in software. According to ARK research, for every dollar of hardware sold around AI, the software pull-through will be somewhere between $8 and $21.

Please watch the short video above to learn about the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV Quick QuoteIGV - Free Report) , SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW Quick QuoteXSW - Free Report) and Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF (IGPT Quick QuoteIGPT - Free Report) . Adobe (ADBE Quick QuoteADBE - Free Report) , Microsoft (MSFT Quick QuoteMSFT - Free Report) and Oracle (ORCL Quick QuoteORCL - Free Report) are among the top holdings in these funds.