Jim Cramer says the world of tech investing has changed and it's not going back

CNBC's Jim Cramer said that semiconductor stocks have become the market's new center of gravity because they are the drivers of the artificial intelligence boom. "It's a new era," the " Mad Money " host said. "Semis are now in charge. Software is taking a back seat." The comments came after Nvidia reported quarterly earnings Wednesday evening that topped Wall Street expectations. The chip giant posted adjusted earnings of $1.87 per share and revenue of $81.62 billion. Before the generative AI era, software dominated technology investing as enterprises relied on subscription-based products to manage everything from sales and human resources to forecasting and IT. Those software vendors generated recurring revenue and high profits, making software-as-a-service, or SaaS, one of Wall Street's most prized business models. However, Cramer said artificial intelligence has reshaped that hierarchy . This year, the iShares Semiconductor ETF has climbed roughly 72%, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has fallen about 12%. "Software's facing new competition from the much cheaper products you can develop yourself from AI, and...it's growing more slowly than the physical side of tech: semiconductors, hardware, the tools that allow for the artificial intelligence revolution," he said. …