ARK Invest moved to capitalise on a sharp global sell-off in technology shares on 28 July, buying about $40.2m (£31.2m) of Tesla, SpaceX and Nvidia stock across its exchange-traded funds.
The US investment manager, led by Cathie Wood, added positions in the three companies as artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks came under heavy pressure and investors questioned the sustainability of recent AI-driven gains.
According to ARK Invest’s daily trading disclosure, Tesla shares were bought through four of its actively managed ETFs. The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) took the largest allocation, acquiring 26,920 Tesla shares. ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ) bought 5,785 shares, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) added 5,119, and ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF (ARKX) took a further 2,457.
In total, ARK purchased 40,281 Tesla shares, a stake worth about $12.38m based on Tesla’s closing price of $307.44 on 28 July.
The firm made an even larger move in SpaceX, buying 105,108 shares of Elon Musk’s aerospace company across the same four funds. ARKK acquired 70,773 shares, with 15,213 going to ARKQ, 9,426 to ARKW and 9,696 to ARKX.
Using SpaceX’s 28 July closing price of $116.41, the new holding was valued at roughly $12.24m. That followed an earlier purchase of around $14m in SpaceX shares earlier in the week, extending ARK’s exposure to the privately held company.
Nvidia added across all active ARK funds
Nvidia stock was bought for all five of ARK Invest’s active ETFs listed in the 28 July filing.
ARKK acquired 42,072 Nvidia shares, while ARKQ and ARKW took 13,639 and 11,984 respectively. The ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) added 5,471 shares and ARKX bought 5,799.
The combined 78,965-share Nvidia purchase was worth about $15.56m based on the chipmaker’s 28 July closing price of $197.01.
ARK’s buying spree came after Nvidia shares fell sharply on Monday, as markets reassessed how the huge cost of AI infrastructure would be funded. During the broader rotation, Nvidia also surrendered its status as the world’s most valuable listed company, with Apple regaining top spot.
Other major US semiconductor and data storage stocks were also hit on Tuesday. Intel, AMD, SanDisk, Western Digital and Seagate Technology each declined by more than 4% amid nerves over future data-centre spending.
Asia bears brunt of market retreat
The technology slump was mirrored across Asia, where some of the steepest losses were recorded.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 10.8%, forcing a temporary circuit breaker after the index’s losses exceeded 8%. Shares in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both fell by double-digit percentages as traders reacted to concerns about China’s progress in chipmaking equipment and doubts over whether AI-related investment can be maintained.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index also closed nearly 4% lower, adding to evidence of a broad-based retreat after a prolonged rally in AI-linked names.
The sell-off has reignited debate over whether revenue generated by AI services can justify the sums being poured into chips, power infrastructure and data centres. ARK’s latest trades show the manager using the downturn to build further positions in companies tied to autonomous vehicles, space technology and computing hardware.
For US investors, ARK’s moves provide indirect access to those sectors via its actively managed ETFs, but they also heighten the portfolios’ exposure to any further slide in high-valuation technology names if AI spending cools or financing costs stay high.
Crypto exposure nudged higher
Alongside its technology purchases, ARK increased its indirect exposure to Solana through the 3iQ Solana Staking ETF.
ARKW bought 2,997 shares of the fund and ARKF acquired 2,255, for a combined 5,252 shares. Based on the ETF’s 28 July closing price of $6.22, the new position was worth about $32,667. That followed ARK’s 24 July trades, when the firm invested roughly $251,500 across three ETFs by buying BitMine Immersion Technologies shares and the same Solana vehicle.
On the same day, ARK Invest’s director of digital assets research, Lorenzo Valente, warned in a separate commentary that the crypto sector was entering its most severe consolidation phase to date.
He said Hyperliquid and Pump.fun together generated 67% of application revenue, with Ethena lifting the combined share of the top three to almost 80%. Valente predicted more “acquisitions, bankruptcies and shutdowns” as capital concentrates in a smaller number of firms, though his post did not disclose the underlying dataset, the precise categories used, or the period over which those figures were measured.
