While betting on the prosperity of AI computing power, also preventing crowded trading settlements! UBS aggressively bought Micron and NASDAQ Call options in Q2, increased holdings in Eli Lilly Call options, and index Put options

According to the disclosure by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), international financial giant UBS Group AG submitted its second-quarter U.S. stock market holdings report (13F) for the period ending June 30, 2026.

Statistics show that UBS's total holdings market value in the second quarter was $790 billion, up from $670 billion in the previous quarter, indicating a significant 18% quarter-over-quarter increase in UBS's U.S. stock holdings, which are approaching the trillion-dollar level, amid heightened profit-taking pressure in the stock market during the second quarter. The financial giant added 1,281 new stock positions in its portfolio during the second quarter, increased holdings in 4,272 stocks, reduced holdings in 4,416 stocks, and completely exited 1,282 stocks. The top ten holdings accounted for approximately 13% of the total market value.

UBS's latest disclosed 13F can be described as a "textbook" extremely professional and accurate revelation of a "continue to go long on AI computing structural prosperity + actively manage crowded tail risk" barbell strategy, rather than UBS's one-sided frenzy to chase the investment boom around Nvidia and AMD's AI computing infrastructure. UBS aims to shift from a single high-beta AI chip giant to betting on storage + cloud computing super platform stocks + index calls to jointly capture the upward factor, while using healthcare growth stocks + index puts to reduce tail risk. Nvidia remains firmly in first place, with Microsoft significantly increased by 8.62%, Broadcom up 2.01%, and Google up 4.84%. At the same time, QQQ calls increased by 90.40%, indicating a strong retention of exposure to large U.S. technology and AI computing upside; however, on the other end, SPY puts surged by 155.10%, and the increase in Eli Lilly calls by 4571.11% clearly strengthened the index's downside convexity protection + high-quality growth outside of technology.

In the second quarter, UBS increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.62%, Alphabet by approximately 3.8% - 4.8%, and Broadcom by 2.01%. Micron's common stock still holds about 6.09 million shares, ranking as the eleventh holding, while the reported number of Micron calls (i.e., Micron call options) surged by 174.94% to approximately 4.21 million shares equivalent, and QQQ calls (i.e., call options tracking the NASDAQ-100 index ETF) increased significantly by 90.40% to approximately 9.69 million shares equivalent.

On the other hand, UBS reduced its exposure to some spot stocks of Nvidia, TSMC, and Meta, while SPY puts (tracking the S&P 500 index ETF) increased significantly by about 155%, and QQQ puts also increased by about 10%. Therefore, the real signal from UBS's holdings is not "withdrawing from technology," but rather spreading from the highly crowded single AI computing leading stocks to storage giants + cloud computing giants + a broader range of AI beta thematic stocks, while buying index downside convexity risk exposure. The aggressive positioning in Eli Lilly call options + SPY/QQQ puts indicates that UBS is clearly not ignoring the AI leverage liquidation risk, attempting to significantly buy Micron call options to go long on the structural prosperity of AI while, Using healthcare growth stocks + index puts to reduce tail risk.

Among them, the bet on Micron, the American storage chip supergiant, is the clearest "fundamental bet on AI computing power" in UBS's portfolio, while the QQQ call is closer to "using limited capital to purchase the convexity of the AI bull market continuing to rise." UBS's significant increase in Micron calls resembles a bet that "after GPUs, storage will inevitably become the second scarce bottleneck in AI systems"; the QQQ call allows the portfolio to gain the beta and gamma of the entire AI ecosystem, including Microsoft, Nvidia, Broadcom, and Meta, without having to reinvest all funds back into the most crowded single stocks like Nvidia (NVDA).

It is worth noting that Q2 itself cannot simply be called an AI bear market, but it has already shown a clear correction trajectory before the severe deleveraging sell-off in semiconductors in July: on June 5 and June 23, there was indeed a severe stampede in semiconductors, with the latter date seeing the SOX (Philadelphia Semiconductor Index) drop 7.9% in a single day and Micron falling about 13%, yet the Nasdaq ultimately recorded one of its best quarterly performances since 2020.

Specifically, "AI chip leader" Nvidia (NVDA.US) remains UBS's largest holding in Q2, with approximately 83.07 million shares held, a total holding market value of about $16.622 billion, accounting for 1.91% of the portfolio, a slight decrease of 0.12% from the previous quarter.

Apple (AAPL.US) ranks as the second-largest holding, with approximately 51.8 million shares held, a holding market value of about $14.989 billion, accounting for 1.72% of the portfolio, with the number of shares increasing by 3.57% from the previous quarter.

AI tech giant Microsoft (MSFT.US) ranks as the third-largest holding, with approximately 35.88 million shares held, a holding market value of about $13.385 billion, accounting for 1.53% of the portfolio, significantly increasing by 8.62% from the previous quarter.

AI ASIC custom chip and Ethernet switch chip giant Broadcom (AVGO.US) ranks fourth, with approximately 25.14 million shares held, a holding market value of about $9.497 billion, accounting for 1.09% of the portfolio, with the number of shares increasing by 2.01%.

The S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY.US) ranks fifth, with approximately 12.27 million shares held, a holding market value of about $9.161 billion, accounting for 1.05% of the portfolio, with a slight reduction of 0.28% from the previous quarter.

Among the top ten holdings, UBS's positions ranked 6-10 as of the end of Q2 are: Google Class A shares (GOOGL.US), Eli Lilly call options (LLY.US, CALL), S&P 500 Index ETF put options (SPY.US, PUT), Amazon (AMZN.US), and Nasdaq 100 Index ETF call options (QQQ.US, CALL). Overall, the top ten positions highlight that UBS's Q2 13F does not reflect an "escape from AI," but rather presents a very distinct "continued bet on the main surge of AI + increased tail risk protection" textbook barbell-style allocation.**

Among them, UBS holds approximately 25.32 million shares of Google Class A stock, with a market value of about $9.05 billion, accounting for 1.04%, an increase of 4.84% from the previous quarter; Eli Lilly call options have jumped to the seventh largest position, corresponding to approximately 7.3 million shares of underlying securities equivalent, with a reported market value of about $8.756 billion, accounting for 1.00%, and the number of positions has surged by 4571.11% compared to the previous quarter; SPY put options have risen to the eighth largest position, corresponding to approximately 11.29 million shares, with a reported market value of about $8.433 billion, accounting for 0.97%, with an increase of 155.10%; Amazon holds approximately 34.23 million shares, with a market value of about $8.159 billion, accounting for 0.94%, a slight reduction of 0.51% from the previous quarter; at the same time, QQQ call options have increased significantly by 90.40%, corresponding to approximately 9.69 million shares, with a reported market value of about $7.138 billion, accounting for 0.82%, making it into UBS's top ten holdings.

From the changes in position ratios, UBS Group's top five buy targets in the second quarter are: Eli Lilly call options (LLY.US, CALL), S&P 500 ETF put options (SPY.US, PUT), Micron Technology (MU.US), Micron Technology call options (MU.US, CALL), and Nasdaq 100 ETF call options (QQQ.US, CALL).

The configuration structure of these top five buy targets is sufficient to highlight that UBS did not withdraw from the AI main line in the second quarter amid high volatility and crowded trading in AI and semiconductors, but instead adopted a more "barbell" characteristic asset allocation logic—on one hand, simultaneously increasing positions in Micron's stock and Call, and increasing QQQ Call, reinforcing bets on the demand for HBM/DRAM/NAND storage in the AI inference era and the upward elasticity of large tech stocks; on the other hand, significantly increasing SPY Put, and introducing Eli Lilly Call to bring in medical growth assets with lower correlation to the AI capital expenditure cycle and stronger fundamental growth certainty, to hedge against technology crowding and systemic drawdown risks.

UBS Group's top five sell targets in the second quarter are: Exxon Mobil (XOM.US), Meta Platforms (META.US), high-yield corporate bond ETF put options (HYG.US, PUT), gold ETF put options (GLD.US, PUT), and gold ETF call options (GLD.US, CALL). UBS is not simply turning to a comprehensive defense; while reducing some exposure to traditional energy and Meta, it has also simultaneously reduced high-yield bond downside protection and options positions on both sides of gold, more like actively cleaning up previously tactical positions used for macro tail risk and commodity volatility trading, refocusing the position allocation on "AI storage + large tech upward convexity + index downside protection + high-quality medical growth to hedge against AI computing power sell-off." In this more directional combination framework