AI’s fingerprints are all over investors’ portfolios, even for those who think they’ve diversified away from it.
That’s the warning from Apollo Global Management’s (NYSE:APO)Chief Economist Torsten Slok, who argues that “a portfolio can appear diversified across sectors and asset classes and still be exposed to the same underlying factor: AI.”
The numbers back him up. Hyperscalers made up just 2.7% of the U.S. investment-grade index in July 2025. Today that share sits at 4.8%, and Apollo estimates it could approach 10% by 2030 as Big Tech borrows aggressively to fund data centers and chips.
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Historically, tech, utilities and real estate moved on different fundamentals, and investment-grade credit, high yield and equities often zigged and zagged separately during stress.
Now, Slok says, AI is increasingly the thread tying it together — meaning a mix of stocks, bonds and sectors that looks diversified on paper can actually be one big bet on the same theme.
Apollo’s own research puts it bluntly: “Apparent diversification across issuers and sectors increasingly [masks] a single macro bet on AI,” which is why the firm is steering clients toward exposures it considers structurally insulated from the AI buildout.
Where to Hide From AI
Slok names three hideouts:
European private credit. Returns here are tied to European corporate cash flows and regional credit cycles — not U.S. hyperscaler capex or Nvidia’s order book.
Sports-related financing. Team and league-linked debt is backed by media rights, ticket sales and franchise economics, cash flows that have nothing to do with GPU demand.
Hybrid credit. Structures blending debt and equity-like features whose performance hinges on deal-specific terms rather than the AI cycle.
Slok’s pitch is that as AI issuance swells toward roughly half of net new investment-grade supply, real diversification means actively seeking out return drivers uncorrelated with the AI trade rather than just spreading capital across more tickers.
Alternative Asset Managers
The read-through points toward alternative managers positioned to sell exactly this kind of product.
Apollo Global Management, Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) and KKR (NYSE:KKR) have all been expanding private credit and sports-financing platforms, positioning themselves as the go-to shops for investors looking to dial down AI concentration risk without dialing down returns.
The bigger question for markets: if everyone starts chasing the same “non-AI” trade at once, does that just become the next crowded bet?
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